Sparrow Spirit 2
by morph
Summary: I am a Spirit sent to guide the Chosen Ones of the Movieverses. My fifth assignment is to return to the Caribbean and guide Captain Jack Sparrow in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.' Here we go again!
1. I'm Back

A/N: The wait is over, my friends! Yes, here it is at last - the first chapter of 'Sparrow Spirit 2.' I hope I don't disappoint anyone who has been looking forward to this. I know some of you have been looking forward to reading this for a very long time, after all.

For those of you who are new to my Spirit series, welcome. It may be useful for you to read some of my other, previous Spirit fics before you begin this one. They are, in order, 'Nightcrawler Spirit,' 'Sparrow Spirit,' 'Skinner Spirit' and 'Constantine Spirit', and all of them can be found at my ff.n bio page.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pirates of the Caribbean_ or anything connected with it. All I _do_ own are my own Spirit characters, the main one in this fic being Calypso.

Special thank you to Jinxeh for betaing this fic for me.

Please sit back, relax and enjoy!

* * *

I was back. I almost couldn't believe it. I was _actually _back. 

I shivered as I flew low over the foggy sea. Somehow, I remembered the Caribbean being a lot warmer, but then I also remembered that the weather here could change very quickly. That didn't matter at the moment; I could feel that my old assignment was close by. A series of coffins floated in the water below me, and I knew that Captain Jack Sparrow was hiding in one of those very coffins. I just had to find him.

The reason why Captain Jack was hiding in a coffin was because he was escaping from the Turkish Prison on the coast nearby. The reason why he was in the Turkish Prison in the _first_ place was explained by the fact that he was looking for a certain special something. Now that he had found it, the next chapter of his story could begin.

I decided to stop and give Jack a warning that I was back. I hovered in midair, and closed my eyes. I reached out my senses and found Jack's mind. Truthfully, it was hard to miss. I couldn't help but grin when I contacted him again, and used my powers to put him into a quick, yet deep sleep so I could enter his dreams.

Suddenly, I felt myself step through onto a solid floor. Everything was painted black, but there was plenty of light. Jack was on the other side of the room, looking around in a confused manner. He had his back to me and hadn't seen me yet.

"What happened? Where am I?" he wondered aloud. I smiled at him, even though he couldn't see me at the moment.

"Hi Jack," I said cheerily.

The pirate whipped around at the sound of my voice. He peered at me for a few seconds before a metaphorical light bulb went off above his head, and he grinned. "Calypso? Is that you?"

My smile became wider. "Yes, it is. I'm back to help you again, _Captain_ Jack Sparrow." I stepped closer to him.

Jack grinned, showing off a number of gold teeth. "That's great, because you know we made _such_ a good team last time."

"We did indeed. We got the _Pearl _back."

Jack nodded, and then frowned thoughtfully, looking me up and down. "Something seems different about you," he concluded.

I sighed slightly. "Well, I've had more assignments since I saw you last. Not all of them were very fun. You remember when I got impaled to the door of the smithy in Port Royal? When you were fighting Will Turner?"

Jack nodded slowly, the memory bubbling to the surface of his mind. "Yes."

"Well, it seems that ever since then, I've been getting hurt more and more." I gave a little chuckle and showed Jack the burn scar on my right palm. He winced. "I was also shot in my shoulder," I put my left hand over my right shoulder, "and hit by a…uh..." my mind scrambled for a moment to think of the piratical equivalent of a car so that Jack could understand. Nothing came easily to mind. "Well, a carriage, let's say. A _very_ fast moving, very _hard_ carriage from the future that was made out of metal. It wasn't fun. It hurt a lot." I rubbed my left elbow, which I all but broke when I was sideswiped by the car.

"Uh huh," Jack muttered. Apparently he wasn't very concerned about this. "So…care to explain where we are?" He glanced around our surroundings once again.

"We're in a dream," I explained. "I wanted to meet you again here so I could give us a chance to talk before things got too crazy."

"So why didn't you see me before I went into the prison, jail, torture place?" Jack asked, gesturing behind him vaguely.

I shrugged. "I couldn't, for some reason. So far as my Masters are concerned, your new story is only just starting now. Nothing I could do about that, and so long as you're okay now, it's nothing to worry about."

"Ah." Jack placed a finger to his mouth, contemplating. "And may I ask what brings you _back_ to my little corner of the world?"

I smiled a little. "Well, as you're probably already aware, you're going to go on an another adventure, Jack, and…" I sighed, thinking of the events of the future. "It's probably going to be your most difficult one yet. Your goal this time will be something much bigger than just getting back a ship." I paused and looked down for a moment. When I looked up, it was almost in a glare. My blue eyes met dark brown ones and held them there.

"What do you know of Davy Jones?" I asked in a low voice.

Jack didn't even blink, but something almost dark passed over his eyes. I'd seen variations of it before with some of my other assignments. In this case, it was the realisation of why I had returned.

"Ah. So _that's_ why you're here," he muttered.

I nodded once, slow and serious. "Yes, Jack. _That's_ why I'm here." I took a breath. It was horrible thinking of what was going to happen to Jack and the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop it…

Jack seemed to notice my slight discomfort and took a step closer. "So it'll be the same deal as before, then? I tell not a soul about you and put my absolute faith and trust in you, etcetera and so fourth," his arms gave a random wave that was so characteristic of him that it made me smile, "and in return, you assist me in whatever big thing is going to happen to me?"

I nodded again. "Yes."

Jack smiled, his dark eyes shining with that old magic of his I dubbed the 'Sparrow Spark'. "Then shall we get started?" he asked.

I smiled back. Damn, it was good to see him again! "We shall."

He held out his hand and I shook it firmly, just as we had the first time we met. Our hands still clasped, I closed my eyes, and concentrated.

When I opened them again, I was hovering above the cold sea once more. A crow swooped next to me and landed on one of the coffins. It began to peck at it, when suddenly it was shot at from inside the coffin. The obviously still alive man in the coffin pointed his pistol around, as if looking for more victims. I smiled and called out to him.

"Captain Sparrow!"

Jack messily broke through the wood, and sat up, looking slightly bemused but overall sure of himself. The foreshadowing of this man rising from the grave was not lost on me, but I hid it from him. He didn't need to know about that.

"Hello again," I said, waving.

"Hello," Jack called up to me.

I shivered once again. "Let's get out of here," I suggested. "The _Pearl_'s this way." I turned and began to drift backwards towards Jack's ship, which was only just visible, waiting for us in the fog.

Jack put his pistol back into his belt and found his old tri-cornered hat. He gave it a punch to get it back into the right shape again and put it on this head before he reached down inside the coffin and felt around for something. Wincing on behalf of the dead, Jack snapped a leg from the knee down off of the skeleton he was sharing his coffin with.

"Sorry, mate," he said to the skeleton. He stuck the leg into the water foot first and began to use it as a paddle. It was as if he was in a gristly canoe. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Mind if we take a little side trip?" Jack asked his coffin-mate. There was no reply. "I didn't think so," Jack muttered.

As he paddled through the dark water, Jack struck up another conversation with me. "So, ye know all about Davy Jones, eh?"

"Well, some things about him." I sighed. "There are still some great mysteries about him that I don't know, so I'm afraid I won't be much help to you there."

Jack grunted in reply.

Suddenly, I felt the need to laugh a little. "I have to confess, Jack, I didn't even know you were involved with Davy Jones during our last adventure. I knew nothing about your past with him until only very recently, to tell you the truth."

Jack gave me a look. "You didn't? But I thought you knew all about my dark and sordid past."

I smirked. "Jack, no one knows all about your dark and sordid past except for you and my Masters. My Masters are certainly not going to tell me until I _need_ to know, and I _know_ you're not going to tell me because I'll have no way of knowing what is the truth and what you made up to make the truth sound better."

My gaze drifted to the large, dark mass in the fog I knew to be Captain Sparrow's ship. "When I helped you get the _Black Pearl _back, all I knew about your past was that you had heard of the Aztec treasure and were going to go after it, but you were mutinied against. I didn't know then how you came to be a pirate and the captain of the _Black Pearl _in the first place. I think I know now, but…" I sighed and looked back at him. "Look, let's not worry about that right now, okay? Let's just focus on the task at hand. You're going to be thinking about that a _lot_ in the next few days and weeks, trust me."

"Yes, yes, fine," Jack said.

By now, we were right up against the _Pearl_'s hull. I knew that the splashes from Jack's makeshift paddle were going to alert Gibbs, who was waiting on the deck above us. Jack still needed help getting out of the coffin though. I grabbed his arms and helped him up as he climbed up the side of his ship.

"Ah, home sweet home, eh?" I said.

Jack smiled tightly and nodded at me as he kicked the rest of the coffin free from his legs.

Yep, it was good to be back.


	2. The Oncoming Storm

A/N: Thank you again to all those who have reviewed so far and to my beta, Jinxeh. Kudos to you if you can guess which TV show I got the title of this chapter from.

* * *

I wasted no more time in landing myself on the deck, then taking a moment to look around myself at the ropes and patched black sails. I had to admit it; I was pleased to be back here. The _Black Pearl _felt sturdy and strong, and I found it hard to believe what fate had in store for her and her captain.

I gave Gibbs a smile, though I knew he could not see it, as he reached down to help Jack climb on board. Gibbs reached his hand out, but instead of feeling Jack's hand grasp it, his hand was met with the cold, and frankly unpleasant feeling of decaying flesh and bone as Jack slapped the leg he had been using as a paddle into Gibbs' hand instead. Jack waved aside my additional offer to help him up, and stepped on board. As if on cue, Mr. Cotton stepped forward with Jack's coat, ready to place it on his captain's shoulders.

"Not quite according to plan," Gibbs remarked, passing the leg to his other hand and looking at it in moderate disgust and unease.

"Complications arose, ensued, were overcome," Jack said with a small, easygoing shrug. It was apparently all the explanation he was going to give about it. He only stood still long enough for Cotton to place his coat on his shoulders before he started to walk off across the deck. Instinctively, I fell into step at his side.

Behind us, Gibbs passed the leg to Cotton and hurried after us. "You got what you went in for, then?" he asked Jack, a trace of hopefulness in his voice.

"Mm-hm," Jack responded positively, reaching into his belt and waving an old and dirty rolled up piece of cloth in Gibbs' face.

Jack went to turn a corner around one of the masts when he was stopped short by his crew standing in front of him. Most of them I did not recognise, and I had to assume that Jack picked them up between the last time I saw him and now. Though I knew she would not be there, I still caught myself looking for Anamaria. Sure enough, she was no-where to be found and so I figured she left the crew at some point and moved on to other adventures. I did, however, recognise Marty. The tough, bald little person was sitting on the wheel that would be later be used to raise or lower an anchor. The crew, I noticed, did not look happy. In fact, they looked downright mutinous. I frowned, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I crossed my arms and gave the crowd a warning glare, not caring that I was invisible.

Gibbs and Cotton stepped up on either side of Jack, and Gibbs began a speech he had obviously prepared ahead of time. "Captain, I think the crew, meaning me as well, were expecting something a bit more… _shiny_." Gibbs waved his fingers to symbolize that certain 'shiny' thing he was alluding to, and such movements would have been amusing if not for the weight of the situation in the air, which almost seemed as heavy as the fog around the _Black Pearl_. "What with the _Isla de Muerta_ going all pear-shaped, reclaimed by the sea, and the treasure with it…" Gibbs growled.

"And the Royal Navy chasing us around the Atlantic," an Indian crew member added. I think his name was Leech, and he seemed to be somewhat in charge, as if he was in the running for Gibbs' job.

"And the hurricane," Marty added. The rest of the crew murmured "aye," agreeing to that.

"All in all, it seems some time since we did a speck of honest pirating," Gibbs summed up, still sounding somewhat hopeful.

"Thank _you_, mister exposition," I muttered.

Jack frowned at the serious faces of his men. He realised that he had once again found himself with an unhappy crew, and he had to do something about it. I found myself seeing things from the crew's point of view. In all fairness, they had every right to be unhappy. After all, they had survived all those trials they mentioned, and so it seemed fair that they would eventually be rewarded for it.

The only problem with this was that Jack was in no mood to go after any treasure other than that which was becoming a pressing, life or death issue with him. There was only _one_ shiny thing he needed right then, so far as he was concerned. The only problem was convincing the motley crew that they needed it, too.

"Shiny," he repeated to Gibbs, almost as though he was highly dubious to such a 'strange' word.

"Aye, shiny," Gibbs confirmed.

Jack gestured to the crew. "Is that how you're all feeling, then? That perhaps old Jack is not serving your best interests as captain?"

Some of the crewmembers glanced at each other, perhaps fearing that if they angered Jack, he would punish them in some way.

Cotton's parrot took the opportunity to speak up. With a loud squawk it shouted, "Walk the plank!"

Jack jumped and drew his pistol, aiming it at the parrot's face as Cotton pinched his beak shut. "_What did the bird say?_" Jack demanded loudly.

"Do not blame the bird," Leech told Jack. He nodded towards the worn piece of fabric Jack had brought back with him from the prison, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Show us what is on that piece of cloth there."

Jack gave him a look and was about to say something when all of a sudden, Jack the monkey, in full cursed skeletal form, dropped down in front of Captain Jack's face. The monkey screeched and hissed loudly. Everyone jumped and cried out in surprise and a bit of fear, including myself. Even though I was expecting it, that damn monkey _still_ made me scream! Jack tried to fire at the monkey, but the bullet jammed in his pistol. The monkey, seeing an opportune moment, hit the deck and grabbed the cloth scroll from Jack's hand before scampering away across the deck. Jack grabbed another pistol from a crew member's belt and the crowd parted for him as he aimed at the monkey. Jack's aim was good, and his shot hit it, knocking it enough so it dropped the cloth. The monkey tumbled and kept running. The whole scene was a bit comical, though it didn't surprise me that no one was laughing.

"You know that does no good," Gibbs said to Jack, sounding tired.

"It does me," Jack countered in a low mutter. I smirked. Immortal monkeys, especially that immortal monkey, would probably be quite therapeutic to shoot at from time to time when one knew that the repercussions from it would be minimal, at best.

Marty hopped down from his perch and ran up to the fallen cloth. He picked it up, mindless of the glare that Jack was giving him, unfolded it, and took a look. "It's a key," he announced, confusing reigning in his voice.

Jack stepped forward and took it from him. "No, much more better. It is a _drawing_ of a key." He showed the image to the crew like a young boy showing off his new toy at a playground. It looked like no key I had seen before, with two blades, one slightly longer than the other, and a short row of teeth on the tip of each blade. I felt a slight sense of foreboding, knowing what role this key and what it went to was going to play in my life, the life of my assignment, and just about everyone else we were to encounter.

Gibbs and the crew took a few steps forward to have a closer look. There was an unspoken question burning to come from each of them them, which Jack picked up on and answered before they could say it for themselves.

"Gentleman, what do keys _do_?" he asked, his tone reflective of a primary school teacher addressing his class.

"Keys… unlock t'ings?" Leech hazarded a guess.

Gibbs leapt on that train of thought rather quickly. "And whatever this key unlocks, inside there's something valuable?" He rubbed his fingers together in the universal symbol for money, a greedy glint in his eye. "So, we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks."

"No," Jack said, in a perfectly happy tone of voice.

Gibbs frowned, confused. Jack stepped towards him, a grin on his scruffy face.

"If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever it is we don't have that it unlocks," Jack explained, sounding chipper. "So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?" Now, he seemed a little less sure of himself, but he was doing his best to hide it when faced by his crew.

It took Gibbs a few moments to wrap his head around what Jack Sparrow had said. I admit, even though I knew what my assignment was trying to declare, I even found _myself_ a tad confused. Jack tended to have that effect on people, I'd come to notice.

"So, we're going after this key," Gibbs said, managing to sound excited.

Jack gave his first mate a look. "You're not making any sense at all," he said, an eyebrow cocked in bemusement. I rolled my eyes with a slight smile. Gibbs' smile, however, fell from his face. Jack addressed the rest of the crew. "Any more questions?"

"So… do we have a heading?" Marty asked.

"Ah! A heading." Jack took his trusty old compass from one of his belts and opened it as he turned away from the majority of his crew. I stood up on my tip toes to peer at the face of the compass. Jack raised a finger and turned it, mimicking the spinning needle. "Set sail in a…" Jack began to announce, but he was hindered by the fact that the compass would not stop turning. "… general…" Jack's finger pointed one way, then to the other, off to his left. Behind him, the crew all looked in that direction. "… _that_ way direction," Jack finally decided, though he didn't sound entirely sure.

"Captain?" Gibbs asked of the odd command.

Jack closed the compass and began to push through the crowd, heading towards his cabin. "Come on, snap to and make sail, you know how this works. Go on!" Jack said distractedly to Gibbs as he passed. A few sharp "oi!"'s were enough to get the rest of the crew out of his way.

I sighed softly as I followed him, not happy at seeing Jack like this. I knew that the crew, especially those who had sailed with Jack for a long time, would be aware that something wasn't right with him, but no one said anything about it…at least, not to his face. Something was troubling him, and that was a worrying thing. I cast my mind back to Gibbs and Marty, who were looking out over the sea in the haphazard direction Captain Sparrow had given them as though they were already expecting to see a speck of land on the dark horizon. Sure enough, they had noticed something was off with their captain.

"Have you noticed lately the captain seems to be acting a bit strange… er?" Marty asked Gibbs. Most likely, he meant that something was stranger than normal about their captain.

Gibbs agreed. "Setting sail without knowing his own heading…something's got Jack vexed, and mark my words, what bodes ill for Jack Sparrow bodes ill for us all."

I nodded to myself, seeing the truth in Gibbs' words. Jack had a habit of dragging other people into his problems, thereby endangering them. I bit my lip as lightning flashed in the distance. A storm was definitely coming, in more ways than one. Sighing, I turned around and followed Jack into his cabin.

"Where'd you get the new crew from?" I asked.

"Oh, all over," Jack replied, still distracted. He waved his hand in my general direction as he hunted for something in the clutter that made up most of the cabin.

"Hmm…" I pondered. "You know…I don't think you can trust many of them…"

"They're _pirates_, Calypso. You got to take what you can get. Besides, this lot are better than my old crew…" he added in a mumble.

I raised an eyebrow. "The one that mutinied?"

"That's the one," Jack confirmed. He turned and faced me, having finally found what he was looking for: a half-full bottle of rum.

I scoffed. "Only slightly. You have a few good men here, but I'd still watch out, Jack. They're not that far away from leaving you behind on an island or whatever."

Jack offered me the bottle "You still not drinking?"

"Yes, I'm _still_ not drinking."

"Good. More for me." Jack took a long swig as he sat down in his chair. "So, you've been keeping busy?"

"Yeah." I sighed and leaned against the table that was cluttered with maps and such. "Two assignments between now and the last time I saw you. I helped to save the world in the future. Even met the devil himself."

"Did you?" Jack sounded unimpressed. I suppose with all he had seen in his life, stories like mine might not seem very special. I wondered if that meant they also didn't sound plausible, to him?

"Yeah. So, Jack, tell me… do you have a plan as to how you're going to find the key?" I asked this with full knowledge that he didn't yet have a plan, yet I was curious as to what his answer would be.

"Nope, no idea, but that's why I've got you." Jack flashed me a grin, his gold teeth glowing in the candle light.

I smiled vaguely. "I'm sure we'll come up with something."

Jack took another few swallows of rum. Outside, I heard the monkey shriek and one of the pirates curse at it. "How'd you get the monkey?" I asked Jack, though I was half able to piece it together myself.

"Picked up the little monster when we tried to go after the treasure Barbossa had stored away on _Isla de Meurta_," Jack said. "It was paddling around and stowed away like a rat. We can't get rid of it now. Won't leave the bloody ship."

"Huh. Well, you never know. He may come in handy one day."

"I doubt it," Jack grunted. He took another drink.

"Jack, have I ever led you wrong before?" I asked with a small grin.

"Not that I can remember," Jack admitted, though he seemed leery of admitting it.

"Though you _should_ remember, that even though I know what's going to happen to you, and to me, I can _not_ tell you about it. If I break that rule, then I'm gone."

"Yeah, I know." Jack paused for a moment of thought. "I don't like that rule," he decided.

I shook my head. "No, me neither," I admitted. With a sigh, I looked over the maps on the table. "How about we try to figure out where we should go?"

"Yeah, all right."

Jack set the bottle down on the table and set about looking over the maps and charts, then setting himself to the somewhat disconcerting task of getting his compass to work correctly.


	3. Bootstrap Bill

A/N: This chapter includes some lines that were inspired by dialogue that the writers, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, wrote for the scene between Jack and Bootstrap Bill, but were cut out. Thanks to the reviewers!

* * *

Sometime later, we were still in Jack's candle-lit cabin. Jack was still sitting at the table strewn with maps, and I was leaning against the table, half-sitting on its edge. Jack was trying to chart a course using a pair of dividers, but he wasn't having much luck. His compass refused to cooperate. Jack tapped it and the needle swung around slightly in one direction, then back the other way. Eventually, and highly frustrated, he gave up and dropped the dividers. 

"Are you sure you know what you want, Jack?" I asked. He gave me a hard look.

"Of _course_ I do. I want to find that bloody _key_..."

I smirked at the compass. "Hmmm…"

Jack grabbed the bottle of rum that was sitting on the table. He peered down the neck and frowned. Tipping it upside-down, only a few drops fell out. "Why is the rum _always_ gone?" he asked with a sigh.

"Because you keep drinking it all, Jack," I said as the captain rose unsteadily to his feet. He swayed a bit with the _Pearl's_ movement, slightly drunk. He reached for his hat resting on a large globe and put it on.

"Oh," he said. "That's why."

I smiled. "Yeah." Jack grabbed his coat and I followed him out.

We went down below decks on a quest to the rum cellar. Along the way, we passed the rest of the crew, who were snoring in their hammocks. Jack, lantern in hand, noticed that they were all asleep, and seemed thankful for it. "As you were, gents," he told them with a knowing grin and a nod of his head. We went down a companion ladder into the hold, where the food supplies were kept. I heard a goat bleat, but didn't actually see one when I looked around for it. Jack took some keys from one of his belts and unlocked a door. We went inside the dark room, and my eyes darted around the shadows, knowing what was coming, and not trusting the darkness. Jack wasn't afraid, he just wanted more rum. He made sure I was in—how considerate—and then shut the door and hung the keys on a nail.

A large wooden rack lined one wall; a gathering of wooden slots. It was meant to hold bottles of rum or wine, but now it was mostly empty but for a few of the slots. Jack spotted something out of the corner of his eye and raised the lantern for a closer look, and I followed suit, wincing at what I saw. One of the spaces in the rack was filled with sea worms and shells, which closed or retreated inside themselves as Jack and the light neared them, as though they were scalded. We shared a slightly disgusted look and continued on.

Jack finally spotted a bottle resting in the rack. He grabbed it and sand spilled out, as if from an hourglass. Jack look disappointed, but wasn't given the opportunity to grab another bottle, for just then, a rough voice sounded through the darkness.

"_Time's run out, Jack_."

Jack and I both jumped. It was a little silly; I was _expecting_ the voice and I was still spooked. Jack accidentally dropped the dusty bottle and it smashed on the wooden floor. Warily, the pirate captain raised his lantern and peered into the darkness. I pointed to a far corner and said, with a small, somewhat shaken sigh, "It came from over there."

Together, we saw a hunched shape behind some barrels and a wooden post. It was humanoid, with wet clothing covered in seaweed and sickly looking skin, as if he had lived beneath the waves for years and years. In fact, he had, but Jack didn't know that yet..

I swallowed. "It's Bootstrap Bill," I whispered.

"Bootstrap?" Jack echoed, hunching over. "Bill Turner?"

Bootstrap looked up at Jack. He wasn't exactly a pretty sight, which was easy to tell right off the bat; half of his face and neck was encrusted in barnacles and muscles, while small hermit crabs scuttled up under his cap when the light hit them. His long hair hung limply like seaweed and the outline of a starfish was showing beside his right eye. Water dripped down his face and gushed from his mouth as he smiled lopsidedly at his old friend, "You look good, Jack."

Jack could only stare, open-mouthed. He couldn't really say the same back to Bootstrap, after all. I frowned slightly at the senior Turner. The last time I was in the Caribbean, I had to deal with the sensation of undead pirates with no life-force that I could detect. With Bootstrap, he still had a life-force, but it was much fainter than it should be. I had a feeling it was going to get dimmer and dimmer the longer he was a member of Davy Jones' crew.

After a few seconds, Jack straightened up. "Is this a dream?" he muttered, looking around at his dark surroundings as though trying to find a means to attest to a more dreamlike state.

"No," Bootstrap answered simply.

Jack frowned. "I thought not." He sighed as he put his lantern on top of a barrel. "If it were, there'd be rum."

In answer, and with the slight _crack_ing sound of stiff joints, Bootstrap extended a hand holding a bottle of rum towards Jack. It took Jack some effort to pry it from his hand. I winced, assuming that was painful for Bootstrap, though he gave no sign of pain. He glanced around him. "You got the _Pearl_ back, I see."

"I had some help retrieving the _Pearl_, by the way," Jack said. He paused, flicking and blowing sand off the mouth of the bottle. I took that to mean he was thinking of me and I smiled. Of course, he was probably also alluding to Will and Elizabeth as well, of course, but it was still nice being thought of. Then, because he couldn't mention me and because I wasn't alone in helping him, Jack added, "Your son." He smiled and pointed to Bootstrap.

"William?" It was hard to tell if Bootstrap Bill was happy or not, though I'm sure he was glad to know that his son was still alive. Jack took a swig from the bottle. "He ended up pirate after all," Bootstrap mused, the bitterness more than evident in his voice despite the fact that he was trying to force it away.

"Well, that depends on your definition of 'pirate,'" I said with a slow grin. It wasn't like Will was out there captaining a buccaneer crew of his own, but he accepted his pirate heritage just the same. While Bootstrap was looking away, lost in thought about Will, Jack slid me a wink.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your carbuncle?" Jack asked Bootstrap.

"He sent me," Bill answered. Jack frowned, wondering who it was the old boy was talking about. Bootstrap read Jack's puzzled face and clarified, "Davy Jones."

Then it clicked in Jack's mind. He guessed Bootstrap Bill's story, and a slow scowl crossed his features. "Oh. So it's you then." Jack sat back on a barrel and leaned his back against a wooden post. I also leaned against the post, crossing my arms against the slight chill. "He shanghied you into service, eh?"

Bootstrap gave Jack a hard look, which the other pirate chose to ignore. "I chose it," he corrected. "I'm sorry for the part I played in the mutiny against you, Jack." Jack noticed a small hermit crab scuttling away from Bootstrap. Bootstrap pinned it under his hand as he spoke. "I stood up for you. Everything went wrong after that." Bootstrap popped the crab in his mouth and crunched it. Jack and I made a face.

"Yuck," I muttered.

"They strapped me to a cannon," Bill continued. "I ended up on the bottom of the ocean, the weight of the water crushing down on me." Jack took another swig of rum and frowned. "Unable to move. Unable to die, Jack," Bootstrap said, shuddering.

Jack and I stopped to think about what Bootstrap was saying. Really, the whole reason he was in his current state was because he had stood up for Jack all those years ago. Had he not done that, he wouldn't have ended up at the bottom of the sea, unable to die because of the Aztec curse, but wanting to just so that his torment could end. Jack seemed sad for his old friend, and perhaps a bit sorry.

"And I thought that even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate, I would take it. I would trade anything for it," Bootstrap continued. Jack and I couldn't really blame him...

I bit my lip. "That's the kind of thinking that's bound to catch his attention," I muttered. It was the tiniest bit of hope that Jack could get the _Black Pearl _back that drove him to make the deal he did with Davy Jones, and also the deal with me. Jack offered Bootstrap the bottle of rum as though it would count for a proper condolence, and he took it. As Bootstrap drank, Jack stood up.

"It's funny what a man will do to forestall his final judgement," he said indifferently, obviously speaking from experience. He walked around a post and Bootstrap leapt up, surprising Jack on the other side.

"You made a deal with him too, Jack," Bootstrap reminded him in a deadly serious voice. "He raised the _Pearl_ from the depths for you." Bootstrap walked forward, causing Jack to move back nervously. I knew Bootstrap wouldn't hurt Jack, not really, but I was still ready to help Jack should he need it. "Thirteen years, you've been her captain."

"Technically-" Jack began, ready to defend himself against this. He _had_ been without the _Pearl_ for ten of those thirteen years, after all.

"Jack, you won't be able to talk yourself out of this," Bootstrap interrupted, shaking his seaweed-covered head. This put Jack at a bit of a loss, since he considered talking his way out of a situation to be one of his strong points, even though he wasn't always as good at it as he thought he was.

"The terms what applied to me apply to you as well," Bootstrap reminded Jack. They were almost nose-to-nose. "One soul bound to crew a hundred years upon his ship."

"Yes, but the _Flying Dutchman _already has a captain, so there's really…"

"Then it's the locker for you!" That shut Jack up. Every man of the sea knew about Davy Jones' locker, but not every man knew that they could actually _go_ there, and even fewer actually _wanted_ to. "Jones' terrible leviathan will find you and drag the _Pearl _back to the depths and you along with it."

I swallowed. It was a truly terrifying notion, and one that I knew would unfortunately come true. However, it was to be Jack's goal to do everything possible to prevent that from happening, and it was _my_ goal to help him.

"Any idea when Jones might release said terrible beastie?" Jack asked, trying and failing to put up an indifferent front about this, as though it hardly mattered.

Bootstrap backed off a step or two and took Jack's left hand. "I already told you Jack, your time is up." He slapped his left hand, sickly and green, onto Jack's palm, and curled Jack's fingers into a fist before letting go. "It comes now," Bootstrap growled, walking past Jack and me and into the shadows. "Drawn with ravenous hunger to the man what bears the Black Spot."

Jack opened his hand and looked at it. In the middle of his palm grew a large black circle, like a plague sore. Jack's eyes went wide and a cold fear grew in the pit of his stomach. Bootstrap Bill disappeared to re-join the _Dutchman's_ crew. When Jack looked up, Bootstrap was gone. He looked to me, then back at his hand, now closed in a fist to hide the spot.

"We've got to get out of here," I said, the first tendrils of fear creeping over me. "Get to land. The beast can't get us there."

Jack hesitated no longer. He and I sprinted up to the top deck, Jack shouting all the way to wake the crew. "On deck! All hands! Make fast the bunt gasket! On deck!" In the sleeping quarters, the men tumbled from their hammocks. "Scurry! Scurry! I want movement! Movement! I want movement! Lift the skin up! Keep your loof! Hull those sheets!" By now everyone was running about to follow Jack's orders. "Run them! Run! Keep running! Run as if the devil himself and itself was upon us!" This was closer to the truth than we would like to admit.

Jack and I hid behind one of the masts. Jack whipped out a long strip of cloth and started wrapping it around his left hand. Gibbs ran up behind us. "Do we have a heading?"

Jack turned and jumped. "_Ah!_ Run!" He blinked. "Land." He ducked away again.

Gibbs frowned, puzzled by his captain's odd behaviour. He went around to the other side, and Jack jumped again when he caught sight of him.

"Which port?" Gibbs asked warily.

"I didn't say 'port.' I said 'land.' Any land," Jack corrected.

I spotted, too late, the monkey swinging down towards us. I shouted "Duck!" as a warning, but Jack was too slow. The monkey grabbed Jack's hat and hissed at us from the rigging. Jack hissed right back and the monkey tossed Jack's hat overboard.

Half the crew saw this and ran to the railing. "Jack's hat!" Gibbs shouted. "Bring her about!" he ordered, ready to retrieve it.

"No! No!" Jack shouted. There wasn't time to go back and get the hat; we had to get to safety. "Leave it!"

The crew stopped dead. Now they knew this was _really_ serious.

"Run," Jack told them again and with the nod of his head, and he darted under the stairs that lead up to the helm. I went with him.

Gibbs turned back to the crew and told them to get back to their stations, then he found Jack hiding under the stairs once more, acting as though he was trying to blend in with the darkly-painted wood.

"Jack?"

"Shh!" Jack hushed him, as if afraid that anyone pointing him out would bring the Kraken faster.

"For the love of mother and child, Jack, what's coming after us?" Gibbs demanded.

"Nothing," said Jack with fake sureness. It might have helped Gibbs believe him more if Jack's eyes weren't darting back and forth nervously…

Gibbs sighed and went up to the helm. Jack and I ducked into his cabin, and I took the chance to try to calm Jack down.

"Jack, we're going to be _okay_. We'll get to land where Jones can't get to us," I said civilly.

"Yes, but how long will we be able to stay on land?" Jack asked me, trying and failing to hide his anxiety.

"For as long as we can," I answered. "Until you figure out some way of fighting this."

Jack looked at his bandaged left hand with a worried expression. "Can I have a look?" I asked, reaching for his hand.

"No," Jack said, jerking his hand away. I gave him a look.

"Jack. It's okay. I just want to see. You won't bring him… or it… any faster just by _looking_ at it, trust me."

Jack hesitated again, but eventually gave me his hand. I carefully unwrapped the cloth and looked at the nasty black mark. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really," he muttered. "Maybe a bit sore."

"Okay." I began to re-tie the cloth, making sure it wasn't too tight. "You're going to be fine," I assured him. Never mind that eventually Davy Jones was going to catch up with us. Jack needed to hear only comforting things right then. He seemed anxious enough at the moment, and didn't need anything else to worry him, and so it was all I could do to give him a reassuring smile.


	4. Chief Jack Sparrow

The first island we came upon was covered in deep jungles and dangerous-looking mountains, in addition to some extremely steep cliffs. Jack was sure he recognised it and tried to remember if it was a good place to stay or not. He didn't consider it for too long, however, as his fear of being attacked by Davy Jones spurred him to drop anchor there anyway. Despite Gibbs' protests, Jack made him get as close to the beach as they possibly could. When Gibbs pointed out that when the tide went out the _Pearl_ would be stranded high and dry on the beach, Jack told him that was the point.

"It'll keep someone from trying to sink the ship," he explained, as though this was an ordinary occurrence. He ordered the crew off of the ship with the excuse that they were to hunt for supplies of fruit and fresh water, and eventually Jack and I stood on the beach near the _Pearl_.

I looked up at the massive ship. It seemed all the more impressive when its giant black hull was out of the water; you could really get a feel for how big the ship really was. It was also strangely sad, seeing the _Black Pearl _beached on the shore. It reminded me of a whale stranded on the sand, trapped and slowly dieing, out of its element.

"But Jack, who would want to try to sink the _Pearl_ way out here?" Gibbs demanded to know, suspicion practically dripping from his voice, though he was trying to contain it. Jack simply waved his hands in response, trying to avoid the topic.

"Jack, you should tell him," I strongly advised as I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't really like being on this island, and kept glancing nervously around the trees, waiting for the impending welcome party to arrive.

Jack finally gave in and sighed. "Just… Davy Jones."

Gibbs' eyes went wide. "_Davy Jones! _But why—?"

But he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a group of native warriors, who promptly began to capture Jack's crew; it was so sudden that one moment they weren't there, and the next, we were completely surrounded. Once again, I had been taken by surprise by something that I knew was coming, and I jumped. Jack and Gibbs tried to run, but were soon trapped by the natives as they brandished spears and shouted at us in their native language.

Fortunately, it just so happened to be a language that Jack Sparrow was reasonably fluent in. Gibbs was shocked when Jack began to answer back in their own tongue, or at least a mixture of their tongue and English. After a few tense moments, they lowered their spears around Jack and appeared to greet him with high praise.

"Jack, do you know them?" Gibbs asked, eyeing the sharp spears that were still pointed in his direction worriedly.

"Oh yes… there are the Pelegostos," Jack told him promptly. "And _I_ am their chief."

I couldn't help but smile just a tiny bit. "Jack, I know that we're still in danger here, but so long as we play our cards right, we should be okay," I told my assignment. Gibbs continued to gape as the natives herded Jack and the rest of the crew further inland, towards their village in the mountains.

Upon our arrival, the Pelegostos set about honouring Jack as their chief. It soon became clear that they saw Jack as a divine being, and as such he would soon have to be freed of his earthly prison, unfortunately enough. Jack had only enough time to just barely translate this to Gibbs before a group of the natives practically pounced on the crew, binding and gagging them right then and there. Gibbs tried to fight them, but it was of no use; he and the rest of the crew were led away to be imprisoned. I shuddered to think of what they were going to make the prisons out of. The natives saw the rest of the crew as 'unholy,' I supposed, and so they were unfit to be with their chief. Jack's attempts to convince them otherwise were thwarted.

"Just go with the flow for now, Jack," I told him. "You have a chance to escape later, trust me." I felt bad about the other men, but I had a job to do, and Jack was the person I was sent to guide and help, not them.

Jack nodded and did his best to embrace the chiefly lifestyle as well as he could. It wasn't long before he began asking after any virgins that needed 'deflowering'. I gave Jack a hard punch on the arm and told him to behave, or else. He only grinned in response. He didn't know what was happening to his other crewmembers, obviously.

"One thing you should have them do, though, is set a trap for any _other_ intruders," I said surely. Once again, I felt bad for another person and what was yet to come; a certain Will Turner, whose fate on the island was unpleasant in nature, but useful, in the end.

Jack frowned at me. "Why?" he whispered. "They got all of the crew, don't they?"

I gave Jack a sly smile. "Well… let's just say you never know who _will_ wash up on shore."

Convinced, Jack gave the orders to some of the warriors, and they rushed off to do their chief's bidding almost in the same instant as the words left his mouth.

For a long time, there was nothing to do but wait. I did my best to ignore the fact that Jack's throne was decorated with human bones and skulls, and instead tried to keep my mind upon observing the stunning, rugged scenery. Jack's face was painted up to resemble one who would be 'all-seeing,' with eyes painted on his eyelids and a green and yellow insect with eyes for feet painted across his nose. It looked like he had three eyes running down each cheek. Jack was also given a feathered crown and sceptre, which I think he quite enjoyed, judging from the grin he had on his face when they handed it to him. I also had to admit that there was something I liked about the sound of the drums the natives played, but at the same time I had to remember that those drums could also mean danger. I knew that soon, I would grow to dislike them.

While I was waiting, I explained to Jack that he needed a new plan. "You obviously can't stay here, Jack. They're going to try to _eat_ you eventually. And everywhere _else_ is occupied by the East India Trading Company." Jack wrinkled his nose, as if he had smelled something bad, and glared at me. "I know. Makes life very difficult for all pirates, including yourself. So…" I sighed and tried to make this sound as positive as possible. "_I_ think we should go and see Tia Dalma."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Now why would I be wanting to go see _her_ again?" he hissed. It didn't matter; I still saw the worry in his eyes, which he was trying to hide.

"She gave you the compass, didn't she? Maybe she could help you out with your _new_ problem of Davy Jones and his 'terrible beastie' that Bootstrap mentioned. She could help you find the key and what it goes to."

Jack chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second, before nodding. "All right. You help me get out of this alive, and _then_ we'll go see Tia. I just hope she's in a good mood, is all," he muttered darkly. Several of the natives noticed that he appeared to be talking to himself, but apart from a few confused glances between one another and some shrugs, they said nothing about it.

"Don't worry about that just now," I said, patting Jack on the shoulder comfortingly.

Jack nodded and closed his eyes. The eyes that had been painted over his lids were blue, and it gave me some idea as to what Jack would look like with blue eyes. I decided it didn't suit him.

Suddenly, there were shouts from the natives as a crowd of them approached. They were walking across the simple bridge that spanned the chasm between the mountain where Jack and the rest of the village were both located. One spokesman stepped forward and made an announcement to Jack, probably saying that they had caught another intruder. I sighed, already knowing who it was. Jack opened his eyes quickly, and looked at the intruder in surprise. There, tied to a pole like an animal on a spit, was young William Turner; pretty much the last, and probably the best, person Jack would have ever expected to come.

Will, who was hanging upside-down and appeared to be a little drowsy, managed to raise his head and peer at Jack in bemusement. He was just as surprised as my assignment was at the unexpected meeting.

"Jack? Jack Sparrow!" Will smiled in relief, looking close to bursting out laughing. I briefly considered the fact that whatever the natives had shot into him might have temporarily addled his brains, and wondered if that was at all possible. He did appear to be a little more giddy than what I might have otherwise expected from him… "I can honestly say I'm glad to see you!"

Jack's eyes flickered in confusion, as though he truly didn't recognize the younger man. I smiled. "Just go with the flow. Pretend you don't know him. You know how the 'whelp' can get you in trouble, but also know he's your ticket out of here."

Now, the fact that Will knew Jack was a danger. If the natives realised that the two of them were 'friends'—or acquaintances—there could be trouble. Therefore, Jack didn't respond to Will directly, or show any sign of familiarity towards him, Instead, he was deliberately slow in uncrossing his legs and rising out of his throne. He and I walked over to Will—well, I walked, Jack sort of strutted—and Jack prodded him in the shoulder with a finger. The manner in which he treated the young blacksmith suggested he was more of a roasted pig ready to be eaten than a human being… though to the natives, it was probably one and the same.

Will was understandably confused. "Jack, it's _me_. Will Turner!" he said with more than just a hint of desperation evident in his slightly hoarse voice.

Jack continued to ignore him and spoke to one of the natives instead, only adding to Will's confusion. One native, with his head painted a bit like a skull, replied to Jack and thumped his spear against the ground with force, his words causing equal grins to cascade across the dark features of his fellows. The rest of the natives repeated the last thing he said and bowed their heads in respect. I bit my tongue, wishing I was able to fully understand the language.

"Tell them to let me down!" Will pleaded Jack, desperation beginning to creep into his voice. No doubt by now he realized that something strange was going on, but that didn't change the fact that he still wanted down.

Jack either couldn't do that, or didn't want to; I couldn't decide which. Either way, he seemed to eventually decide to have a bit of fun for his own amusement, or at least do what he thought was right, with the 'fun' being a bit of an added bonus. He spoke in the natives' language again, this time also dissolving into it a bit of broken English as well. He gestured down in between Will's legs and explained something to the natives about Will that was very clear when I caught the words, "Eunuchy! Snip, snip!", complete with a scissor movement with his fingers.

I covered my hand with my mouth in an attempt to hide my giggle. The Pelegostos all murmured and nodded to each other, some repeating '_eunuchy'_ and wincing. Nodding, Jack turned and walked back towards his throne. As he did, Will noticed the compass hinging from one of Jack's belts, and when he did there was hardly anything that would take his eyes from it. "Jack, the compass! That's all I need!"

Jack stopped and listened to him, a thoughtful expression evident among his darkened features. "Elizabeth is in danger!" Will continued urgently. "We were arrested for trying to help _you_. She faces the _gallows!_"

"That's _not_ good," I said. I saw concern flicker briefly across Jack's eyes though, as usual, he was attempting—and sort of failing—to hide it.

Jack thought for a few moments more, and then pivoted and walked back up to the head warrior. He gave him some orders, coupled with more than a few bizarre hand gestures, the only word of which I understood being the "savvy?" at the end. Then, Jack made a flurry of shooing motions with his hands while trying to convey what he was trying to say in much the same way. The only words I could really even hear, though not translate, were "ball licky-licky!"

Whatever it meant, though I had my unlikely suspicions, it certainly got the Pelegostos excited. The lead warrior shouted the same phrase to the rest of the tribe, who cheered it on with vigor. The drums started up again and everyone began to move, including Jack and Will. I realised what was going to happen soon, and swallowed.

Just before Will was carted off, Jack leaned in towards him. "Save me!" he hissed, a terrified look crossing his face for just the briefest of moments before it was gone again, and he was standing up straight.

Will just looked even more worried and confused as before as he was taken away. "Jack, what did you tell them?" he shouted as he was carried away across another rope bridge, headed off to where the rest of the prisoners who _didn_'t have divine status were kept. "No! What about _Elizabeth?_ Jack!" Will called, but there was nothing Jack could do.

The Pelegostos really started to ramp up the celebration. The beating of the drums filled the air and a lithe man painted to look like a skeleton danced as a large pile of wood was gathered for Jack's fire. Two painted-up women approached Jack, and tied a rather unbecoming necklace around his neck. It was only after they stepped away that he realised it was made out of human toes. I had to close my eyes and look away, fighting the urge to vomit right then and there.

"Thank you," Jack muttered to the women, trying and failing to force some enthusiasm. I didn't even want to look as Jack picked up one of the big toes, studied it for a second, shrugged, and took a tiny bite, which he quickly spit out.

"That is _beyond_ gross, Jack," I said, shuddering. Jack had to agree with me, though he didn't do so out loud. Together, we eyed the two burly cannibals standing on either side of Jack's throne; they were obviously in place to make sure their chief didn't run off. "You're going to have to find some way to distract these two guys," I told Jack quietly, though there was really no need for secrecy on my end of things. "_Then_ make a run for it."

"Right," Jack said quietly. One of his guards gave him a funny look, and Jack smiled.

It wasn't long before he noticed one of the natives was starting to light the bonfire. Jack leapt out of the throne, looking frantic. "No, _no_. Oi! No, no!" he shouted at him, making most of the natives turn and regard him in interest. "More wood! Big fire, big fire!" He raised his arms in the air to accent his words, mimicking the flames he supposedly wanted to see. "I am _Chief_. Want big fire! Come on!"

Jack turned to the two big men standing by his throne and shouted at them in their language. I managed to catch another "Oi!" used to get their attention, and "Tout de suite! Come on! More _wood_." Jack frenziedly beckoned for them to fetch more fuel and the two of us smirked when they did so.

"Good job," I said to Jack pleasantly, then returning to a serious façade just as quickly. "Now_ run!_"

Jack immediately dropped his sceptre and crown, much as it pained him to part with the former, and he and I quickly made a mad dash for the nearest rope bridge.


	5. Pelegostos Island

Jack and I sprinted across a chasm, Jack on the rope bridge and myself in the air, as I considered it an easier means of travel. We moved down a path beside a large woven hut. Jack tried to leap over a short rocky wall, but he quickly stopped himself as he realised it wasn't a wall at all, but the lip of yet another huge gorge. The drop was enough to give even someone like me with the ability to fly vertigo, and it caused a pained expression to cross upon Jack's face.

"Well, we need to find _someway_ to get you across," I muttered. Jack and I looked around for a solution to this problem and soon spotted several long bamboo poles resting beside the base of the wall. Jack picked one up and squinted down at it, tossing it up and down in his hand lightly and watching as it bent slight under its own weight.

"You thinking of pole vaulting?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

Jack grinned. "Yep."

I shrugged and smiled, trying to hide my nervousness at what was about to happen, even though I knew it would turn out all right in the end. "It's worth a shot. You should get some rope though. In there." I pointed to the hut helpfully.

Jack nodded, dropping the pole and making haste in ducking into the hut. I followed at a more leisurely pace, and saw that it was filled with things the cannibals had taken from past travellers they had captured; various metal tools that hung from the roof, some of them stained with blood, bulging burlap sacks, mounds upon mounds of clothing…it was astounding. The floor was littered with chests of plates, crockery and different sorts of linen. In a corner, Jack found a coil of long, thick rope, and slung it over his shoulder.

Just before we headed out, I stopped, sniffing the air warily. "You smell that?"

Jack inhaled deeply, and pulled a face. "Yeah…" he muttered in agreement, his eyes sweeping around the hut until he located the source of the smell. His feet took him over to a sack that was full of small metal tins. Carefully, he pulled one out and read the label on the lid: **Paprika. **

My lips turned upwards in a small smile. "Of course, the spice trade," I murmured. Jack turned over the tin and we saw the sign on the bottom. It was the EICo symbol. "Run by the East India Company." I sighed, and lost my smile. "Their influence is even felt in a wild place like this."

Jack grunted and took the tin out of the hut with him. I followed with another small sigh.

We didn't get very far, since we almost ran smack-dab into what seemed to be the entire native tribe. They were standing outside the hut, waiting for their chief.

"Oh, bugger," Jack muttered.

"You said it," I agreed, my eyes wide.

Jack dropped the coil of rope with an innocent smile and unscrewed the lid from the tin of paprika. He proceeded to sprinkle the spice under his armpits as if it were deodorant. I wrinkled my nose at the strong smell of it, and rolled my eyes at Jack's antics. Just when I thought he couldn't get any stranger…paprika deodorant? The cannibals just stared at Jack, and gave each other confused looks.

"A little seasoning, eh?" Jack suggested to the tribe, waving a hand as though wafting the aroma towards himself. He sniffed the air appreciatively.

There was nothing I could do as the Pelegostos grabbed Jack and set about using the rope he had gotten from the hut to tie him to one of the long, thick bamboo poles. The rope was wrapped around his wrists, then around his shoulders, body, and the pole before finishing around his ankles, securing them together and also to the pole. While he was being tied up, Jack shot me an accusatory look, silently demanding to know why I wasn't helping him.

"I can't help you right now. I'd just pass through them," I reminded him, regret in my voice. He simply scowled in return, which was understandable.

With their chief secure, the natives marched back to the bonfire area, Jack being carried on his pole between two strong male warriors. The drums started up again and the skeleton-painted dancer was doing his thing; a captivating display to watch, if not a little creepy. The two men carrying Jack placed his pole on two forked posts so that he hung over the large pile of wood. Jack and I both noticed that Jack's earlier request of "more wood" had been granted, unfortunately enough.

"Well done," Jack muttered with a sigh.

I received a sudden mental flash of two large, round bone cages filled with Jack's crew in a race up the side of a vertical gorge. I smiled at the vision, because I knew that things were progressing as they should, even if things seemed a little unfortunate for Jack at the moment.

Just then, a native decorated with a scull motif sprinted across a rope bridge towards us, his steps quick yet sure. He was carrying a flaming torch. I gulped and bit my lip nervously. He stopped in the clearing beside the wood pile and shouted something to the crowd. Immediately the assembled natives repeated the cry excitedly and the flaming torch was lowered towards the wood pile. There was nothing Jack could do but watch helplessly, though I was prepared to step in and save my assignment if things didn't go according to plan.

Fortunately, I was spared from intervening as a teenaged native boy ran up, shouting desperately and otherwise distracting the crowd from their future meal, if only for the moment. I didn't know what he said, but I got the gist: the other prisoners were escaping.

All eyes turned to Jack, and it clicked in his mind that they still needed his command.

"This is another _opportune moment!_" I hissed to him. He blinked.

"Well, go on, go get them!" Jack ordered the tribe. He shouted something else in their native language that I didn't understand, and once again they all repeated it. Every last one of them ran off with great enthusiasm to chase Will, Gibbs, and the other surviving members of Jack's crew. This was just fine with Jack and I, except for the fact that the man who had been holding the flaming torch had dropped it dangerously close to the stack of wood and the dried-grass trimmings.

The natives rushed off as Jack tried to call one back to move the torch. "No, no! _Oi!_ No, no!" he shouted, but he was unheard. "_Not_ good," Jack proclaimed, as we once again found ourselves alone.

In an effort to put out the fire, Jack began to blow on it, as futile as he probably knew the effort was. However, this had the opposite effect desired as the flames leapt to the dry grass, in response to the added oxygen, and started to spread to the wood beneath him. Panicked, Jack blew harder, which did nothing to improve things. I walked up to him and casually hit him on the back of the head.

"Stop _blowing_ on it! You'll make it worse!" I scolded. I hated sounding like a kindergarten teacher scolding a naughty young child, but what choice did I have? "Listen to me! I can't untie you because you'll fall into the fire, and you're too heavy for me to lift," I explained. The fire grew, and the heat from it was becoming very strong. "You'll have to use your body weight to bounce the pole off these posts, and roll clear of it."

"You can't just… put it out?" Jack demanded sulkily.

I shoved my scarred palm into his face, and he winced at the sight of it. "_No_. I'm not getting burnt again if I don't have to. Now hurry up!"

Jack sighed, and soon began to bounce the pole up and down, eventually getting it off the forked posts when it bounced high enough that it managed to escape the prongs. He hit the ground on his side roughly, and quickly rolled clear of the fire. I flinched, imagining that that _had_ to hurt, and rushed over to help him with the rope.

"Good job," I praised. Jack kicked his feet free with one swift movement, and I narrowly missed being hit in the face. "Oi! Watch it!" I exclaimed in aggravation. I helped him to his feet, the long pole still tied to his back forcing him to bend over. "There's no time for the rest of it right now!" I shouted. "We have to _run_. Come on!"

Jack and I raced back along the rope bridge towards the hutted area where we had been caught before, though it didn't seem to be an easy task for Jack, since he had to run in a hunched-over position. Along the way Jack managed to get his hands free. We paused for a moment on a short stone wall while Jack wrestled with the tight coils of rope around his chest.

"Jack, look," I said, knocking on the bamboo to get his attention. I pointed to a young native boy who was holding a knife and fork, all ready to chow down. The boy cocked his head at the bizarre image of Jack Sparrow. Jack, apparently hit by a sudden inspiration, hopped off the wall and crab-walked over to him in a somewhat humorous fashion; had the moment not been so dire, I might have laughed. He snatched the knife out of the boy's hands and began to use it on the ropes around his chest as the boy scampered off.

"Uh oh," I muttered. Jack looked up at the sound of my voice, and saw the two tribal women with large dishes of whole fruit standing barely ten feet away. They were obviously interrupted from their preparations of the upcoming feast. "Uh…Jack, _do_ something!" I urgently told him.

The seemingly only thing that came to Jack's mind, instead of the brilliant plan I might have hoped for, was to scream and run at the women, using the pole as a sort of javelin. I groaned and shook my head as the women easily avoided the crazy pirate, and Jack crashed into a pile of coconuts just a moment later. Fortunately, one coconut was speared onto the tip of Jack's pole. Finally, he _was_ struck with a bright idea: to use it to hurl it at the women. With a grin, Jack swiftly swung around and the coconut flew off the end, propelled by the force being thrust upon it. With surprising quickness and nimble fingers, one of the women caught it right before it hit her in the face, just she was splattered my coconut milk. Lowering the coconut slowly, the woman glared at Jack through the milky white substance that coated her dark face.

"Oh, for crying out loud…" I muttered as the women began throwing their fruit at Jack. I drifted up into the air above the fray; I wasn't too crazy about the idea of the fruit hitting me. Impatiently, I watched as more and more fruit became skewered onto the pole on either side of Jack. His attempts at dodging it only made things worse.

At last, when he seemed to have had enough, he shouted "Stop it!", and to his amazement, they did. Jack stood there awkwardly, the middle of a giant fruit kebab. He cast an unsure glance up to me. I shrugged.

"Pole vault?" I suggested.

Jack's eyes moved to the lip of the chasm. He decided to go for it. With a wild, rather broken yell, he ran for the edge, planted the top of the pole into the ground, and as the post began to bend inward against his weight, was suddenly launched into the air. I flew close to him, but not too close, least I get hit by his out of control, end over end flight. Amazingly, he landed on his feet on the other side of the gorge, though it wasn't exactly a steady landing. I waited behind him and to the side as he grinned to himself, possibly thinking what a _fantastic_ story this would all make some day.

Unfortunately, things took another turn for the worse as the fruit skewered on the top part of the pole slid down, causing him to overbalance and fall backwards into the gorge. My eyes went wide and I zoomed down after him, mindful of the post… but even more mindful of Jack's safety. The walls of the chasm narrowed as he fell, and Jack's pole became wedged between them as it balanced and became horizontal, eventually catching, sliding, and jerking to a stop. However, the rope tying Jack around the pole wasn't strong enough to keep his weight tethered to it because of the force in which he was suddenly stopped. He fell, spinning like a toy as the rope unwound, though the pole stayed where it was. When the rope ended, Jack's body stopped falling, leaving him to dangle there upside down, hanging by the rope still tied to the pole and wrapped around his foot.

I drifted down to my dizzy assignment, concerned. "Erm…are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so…" Jack replied, his voice bleary and his eyes a little unfocused. As one, we heard a scraping sound and looked up as the pole slipped down the rock wall a fraction, coming loose from its wedged position. It wasn't going to hold for much longer.

"Bugger," Jack moaned.

The pole slipped yet again and fell. Jack shouted hoarsely as he plummeted, his arms and legs waving frenziedly in the air. I allowed myself to fall with him, though my descent was much more controlled, more like a diving hawk. Below us loomed a number of rope bridges. I winced in anticipation - this was going to hurt.

Jack crashed through them, one after the other, each managing to slow his fall by only a tiny fraction, but none being strong enough to stop him completely. The falling pole turned vertical with the weight of the fruit, and fell through the rope and plank bridges after him, the wooden boards shaving the fruit off it when it passed through them. The bridges did exactly what I hoped: when he landed on the leafy jungle bottom with a resounding _thud_, there was no serious injury done to him. Secretly, however, I also dipped into my magic supply to help slow Jack's as well - I didn't want him to die from this, after all.

I landed gently beside Jack as he lay groaning on the ground. The bamboo pole was still falling towards us, and I ducked away when it finally buried itself in the ground mere inches from Jack's face, quivering in its spot when it was stuck there. After that, it was almost easy to avoid the falling fruit. When it was finally over we both breathed a sigh of relief. I had to remind myself that this relief was to be short-lived and we had to scramble to get off this island.

"Jack, are you okay?" I asked him, concerned. I severed the rope connecting him to the pole, knowing the rest of it would have to wait until later. "Can you get up? Can you run?"

"I think so," Jack groaned as he sat up. Unlike what I thought might happen, he didn't seem too perturbed that I apparently hadn't helped him all that much in his fall—or else he was still too dizzy to remember exactly what happened, anyway. "But what's the hurry?"

"The natives are on their way. We have to get back to the _Black Pearl. _NOW!" I told Jack sharply. He didn't protest as I helped pull him to his feet, and we started to run just as we heard the first sounds of the angry cannibals crashing through the jungle behind us.


	6. New Plan

There was no other way to describe it: Jack and I were running for our lives.

Jack wasn't even bothered by the length of rope still attached to his foot; all that mattered was getting to the _Black Pearl _before she cast off and we became trapped here. It was a wild, panicked sprint through the jungle to the shore, then down the beach. I didn't even bother to fly, I didn't think of it at the time, my mind was so muddled. I dared not look back for fear of realising just how close the natives were to catching us, or Jack, at least. We could see the_ Pearl _already in the water thanks to the rising tide, and nearly lost among the rising waves were the two pirates who had tried to steal her.

"OI!" Jack called down the beach, hoping he would be heard by his crew. I knew that even if they didn't hear Jack, the sound of the Pelegostos would be enough to alert the crew. I hoped they wouldn't leave without us; certainly Will didn't want to leave without Jack, but the horde of angry natives did complicate things a bit. We could see the crew scrambling to cast off before the mob reached them.

Jack looked back over his shoulder and, realising how close the natives were, he shouted and began running a bit faster. They were practically nipping at our heels. "OI!" Jack shouted once again to the crew, almost begging them to wait a few seconds more.

As we splashed through the shallows, Jack and I passed a dog standing on the beach. It took me a moment to realise that this was the dog from the jail in Port Royal; the one who guarded the keys. "Good doggie!" Jack yelped to the mutt as we passed. I had to laugh. Could this day get any weirder?

Jack and I shouted together as we leapt over the small waves to catch up with the ship. I finally went airborne as Jack grabbed desperately for the loose net of ropes hanging over the edge of the _Pearl_. After the third time, he managed to get a firm grip, and we both let out a sigh of relief as he pulled himself up and wedged his feet through the holds for support.

"Yes! We made it!" I cheered, whooping for joy. "Ha _ha!_"

Jack grinned and waved towards the natives, who, realising they had lost their chief, wailed after him in the shallow water. A few of them even seemed to be crying. I _didn't_ feel very sorry for them.

"Alas, my children!" he called out to them loudly, "this is day you shall _always_ remember as the day that you al_most_…"

Jack was cut off by a sudden wave crashing into us from behind, and for a small moment he completely disappeared from sight. I squealed as I got caught in the cold water, having failed to fly out of its reach in time. It left the both of us utterly soaked and Jack feeling a bit extinguished.

"Captain… Jack Sparrow…" he muttered. He sighed and reached up to climb on board.

"Wait a minute, Jack," I said. "Let me get this rope off your foot." I struggled with it a bit, but was soon able to tug the knot over the heel of his boot, making sure he was free of it. Then we both climbed aboard the relative safety of the ship.

I spared a last glance at the Pelegostos as their protests were interrupted by the barking of the dog, still on the beach. The entire group was quiet for a second, before they set off chasing the mutt back down the coast. I sighed, wishing the dog all the best, and turned my attention back to my assignment.

Gibbs ran up to Jack as the two pirates who had tried to steal the ship: none other than our old 'friends' Pintel and Ragetti, who tried in their own little way to butter up to their new captain. They placed Jack's coat on his shoulders and when Jack glanced at Pintel, he snapped into a salute. It was quite amazing really, how the two of them joined the crew so easily and practically without question. I had to admit I was almost glad to see them. I thought they were funny, despite their sometimes dubious intentions.

"Let's put some distance between us and this island and head out to open sea," Gibbs suggested to Jack gratefully.

Jack pointed to Gibbs to accent his speech, and spoke swiftly and surely. "Yes to the first, yes to the second, but only insofar as we keep to the shallows as much as possible," he said with a nod and a frown.

Gibbs sighed. His captain was still afraid of the open ocean, and that wasn't good. "That seems a bit _contradictory_, Captain…"

"I have every faith in your reconciliatory navigational skills, Master Gibbs," Jack sighed. "Now where is that monkey? I want to shoot something," he hissed venomously, narrowing his eyes once again. The face paint on his cheeks was running together, making him look a bit run-down.

As if on cue, something small dropped onto deck from the rigging, landing with a small _thump_ and causing everyone's attention to immediately go to it. We all looked down at the small rolling object, then up and saw the monkey climbing about, having just lost his stolen possession: Ragetti's wooden eye. The gangly pirate happily picked it up, spat on it to lubricate it, and popped it back into place as though it was nothing. I sighed in disgust. Pirates.

Jack got his hands on a pistol courtesy of Pintel, and cast a predatory glance upwards. He just managed to take aim before he was halted from shooting by Will, who came bounding across the deck. He looked urgent to speak with Jack, judging from the serious expression that dominated his striking features.

"Jack," he said, jumping right to the point and getting the pirate's attention. "Elizabeth is in danger!"

Jack started up towards the helm, acting disinterested, like it wasn't really his problem. "Hmm…have you considered keeping a more watchful eye on her? Maybe just lock her up somewhere?"

"She is locked up in a _prison_, bound to hang for helping you!" Will argued bitterly. As he followed Jack and myself, the blacksmith's tone soon became angry. Apparently, he believed that Jack should take some responsibility for everything that had happened. Jack picked up on this, and had to disagree.

"There comes a time when one must take responsibility for one's mistakes," Jack said simply, obviously implying that it wasn't _his_ fault Elizabeth and Will had broken the law and helped him to escape. Now they were the ones who had to live with it.

Scowling, Will grabbed a sword off LeJon, a crew member we passed. The sound of it unsheathing alerted Jack and he turned around just as Will leveled the blade near his throat. LeJon, sensing that this probably wasn't something he needed to be involved with, was wise and made haste in ducking away from the pair and slinking down the stairs. "I need that compass of yours, Jack," Will said, nodding towards the device hanging from Jack's waist, his brow furrowed in determination. "I must trade it for her freedom."

"Jack, I think it's time for that new plan we were talking about. Remember?" I said. "The one about going to see _her?"_

Jack gave no notice he had heard me, but I know that he did. As though it was nothing, he moved Will's sword aside and addressed his first mate, who was standing at the helm. "Mr. Gibbs!"

"Captain," Gibbs replied, business-like. I caught a sharp tone to his voice. He wasn't pleased Will had threatened Jack so, though like LeJon, was wise enough to stay out of it.

Jack slid up beside him, speaking his next words with as much caution as he could muster. "We have a need to travel _upriver_."

Gibbs suddenly got nervous as he realised what Jack meant, though he probably hoped he was wrong. He _really_ didn't want to go upriver. "By need, do you mean a trifling need?" he asked hopefully. "Fleeting? As in, say, a passing fancy?"

Jack frowned and shook his head, much to Gibbs' chagrin. "No, a resolute and _unyielding_ need," he told Gibbs indubitably. He left no more room for argument from his side of things.

However, Will thought he still had _plenty_ of room to argue. "What we need to do is make sail for Port Royal with all haste!"

"Oh yeah, fan-_tastic_ plan, Will," I muttered with a healthy dose of sarcasm. "Sail the last major pirate threat into a port where we're sure to be caught and hanged. Brilliant!"

Jack seemed to have more confidence now that he had a plan to get help, so he could face Davy Jones. It was obvious now that he was _not_ safe on land. The East India Trading Company was slowly but surely closing the noose on pirate-friendly ports, and any areas they had not taken over were mostly too dangerous for Jack to stay on, save Tortuga, and probably Singapore. He couldn't run anymore, and had no choice but to fight. A familiar old sparkle entered Jack's eyes and it made me smile to see him act a bit more like his old self.

"William," he said, his patience being tested by the gung-ho blacksmith once again. He knew how to manipulate Will to his advantage though; how to turn Will's eagerness to save his beloved into energy spent helping him, Jack, get what he wanted. It kind of made me feel sorry for Will, really. "I shall _trade_ you the compass if you will help me to find… _this_."

Jack pulled out the cloth with the drawing of the key on it and held it up for Will to see. Will frowned at the picture, not really understanding its importance. "You want me to find this?"

"No," Jack corrected airily, letting his art of verbal manipulation shine though. He spoke slowly and carefully, making sure Will understood, as though he was a small child or something of the sort. "_You_ want you to find this, because the finding of this finds you incapacitorially finding and/or locating in your discovering, the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle, ol'…what's-her-face. Savvy?"

Will looked at Jack blankly as the words sank in. My smile began to grow as Will took the cloth from Jack gingerly, as though the soggy fabric would somehow scald him. "_This_ is going to save Elizabeth?" he asked, not fully believing it.

"In a nutshell…?" I tried.

Jack paused and lowered his eyes and tone. "How much do you know about Davy Jones?" he asked gloomily, locking his eyes on Will's. I put a hand to my mouth to hide the grin that appeared. Jack was imitating the way I had asked him about Davy Jones when we first met. Or had I been imitating him?

Will thought about it for a few seconds. "Not much," he admitted. Instantly, the dark mood seemed to lift, and Jack was right back to his conniving self once more. He nodded.

"Yeah." He pointed to the cloth in Will's hand. "It's going to save Elizabeth." He nodded and smiled, before turning away. No need for Will to know anymore than that just yet.

Jack and I looked out over the ocean that had suddenly become so dangerous for him, but now there was a new determination to survive on our faces. I wanted to hold on to this moment for as long as I could, because I knew that things weren't going to be this good again for a long time.

Gibbs cast a look at Pintel and Ragetti, who were milling about on the deck below us. "Er, captain, what do you think we should do about those two?"

"I recognize them from Barbossa's old crew," Will commented. "They were trying to launch the _Pearl_ when we found them, even if it did mean we were about to get away from the cannibals before they caught us. Do you think we can trust them?"

Jack caught my eye, trying to ask my opinion without really seeming so. I shrugged. "I don't know how far you can trust them, but they are reasonably hard workers and you never knew how useful they could be in the big scheme of things. I'd keep them along." Jack mused on this for a moment, then looked back to Will.

"Probably not," Jack answered Will. "But, what with the recent… _departure_ of some of my crew, we could use an extra few hands." Jack raised his voice to address the two scallywags. "Oi, you two! What were you doing, trying to launch my ship?"

Pintel and Ragetti jumped slightly, and looked up at him with matching expressions of nervousness. "We was _salvaging_ it!" Ragetti replied timorously. His buddy elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"We was getting it ready for you, cos we knew you'd be coming back for it!" Pintel offered hopefully. He didn't sound as convincing as I'm sure he thought he did.

Jack rolled his eyes. "It doesn't really matter, Jack," I told him. "Let them stay. Put them to work. They won't mutiny against you again, trust me. "

Jack did just that. "Well, are you going to stand around all day, or are you going to earn your keep? Get a mop and swab the decks!"

Pintel gave another quick salute and almost bumped into his one-eyed friend in his haste. "Come on," he grumbled to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him away in search of the mops. I smirked.

"I think they may know this ship even better than you," I mused. "After all, they were on her for ten years while they were cursed and you…" Jack was shooting me daggers and I wisely shut up. "Sorry…"

The monkey continued at chatter at us from his hiding place in the rigging. I frowned up at him. "You know, Tia's going to want payment." Jack gave me another look to tell me he was very aware of that fact. "And I know you want to get rid of the monkey." I smiled at Jack. "Captain Sparrow, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

Obviously, Jack was. "Mr. Turner," he said. "If you wouldn't mind making yourself useful, we require the capture of a certain troublesome and still-cursed primate. If you would be so kind as to construct a cage and somehow put him in it, I would be much obliged."

Will blinked at Jack, then squinted up at the monkey. "Why do you need to catch the monkey?"

Jack frowned. "You ask too many questions. Just do it before we need to drop anchor again, savvy?"

Will still seemed reluctant. Jack sighed. "Think of it this way; catching the monkey will help save Elizabeth."

Anger flashed through Will's eyes. "That's not _funny_, Jack," he snapped. He sighed nevertheless, not eager to argue with Jack Sparrow at this point and time. "Fine, I'll catch the stupid monkey."

"Good luck," Gibbs said to Will.

"Thanks," Will muttered as he walked away.

I smiled. This was going to be fun to watch.


	7. Tia Dalma

We left the _Black Pearl _anchored in the shallows near the mouth of a long river. The river itself cut through a jungle island that featured a large, murky swamp. It was there where Jack and I knew we would find Tia Dalma.

We set off on two longboats; Jack and I sat in the bow of the lead boat while Cotton rowed and LeJon sat at the back. Will, Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti and Marty were in the other boat. Marty was on lookout as Pintel and Ragetti rowed. Dark figures watched us from the trees as we found ourselves travelling deeper and deeper inland, and, noticing this, Jack kept a wary eye open. I allowed my mind to drift back to Will and Gibbs as they talked quietly.

"Why is Jack afraid of the open ocean?" Will asked.

Gibbs was ready to launch into story mode. "Well, if you believe such things, there's a beast does the bidding of Davy Jones—a fearsome creature with giant tentacles that'll suction your face _clean_ off…" He made a claw hand and gestured towards Ragetti's face to demonstrate. The one-eyed pirate winced and put his hand to his cheek. "… and drag an entire ship down to the crushing darkness," Gibbs growled for dramatic emphasis.

Gibbs paused for a second, and abruptly named the beast for them all, "The _Kraken_."

The pirates in his boat all exchanged a frightened look. Gibbs continued his description. "They say the stench of its breath is like…" He shuddered, "Imagine, the last thing you know on God's green earth is the roar of the Kraken and the reeking order of a _thousand_ rotting corpses." Ragetti looked ill. Gibbs glanced at Will with a small shrug. "If you believe such things…"

I sighed sadly. It was like Gibbs had spoken a prophecy for what was to happen in the relatively near future.

Obviously, everyone _did_ believe in such things. "And the key will spare him that?" Will asked.

Gibbs gave a ghost of a shrug. "Well, that's the very question Jack wants answered. Bad enough even to go visit… _her_." He shuddered again.

"Her?" Will questioned, not knowing who Gibbs was talking about.

"Aye," was all Gibbs said in reply. Best let the whelp find out for himself, in his opinion.

Darkness washed over us as we entered the deep jungle swamp; I realised that the sun had set. Fireflies dotted the air around the trees. I saw one being snapped up by a large, green iguana. Instantly, I could tell more people were tracking the movements of the boats from the banks of the river. Mist floated above the water surface and frogs and insects made their music. All in all, it was a very creepy area, but strangely I found some comfort here. Despite all appearances, this was a relatively safe place, and I knew it was to become a refuge for Jack's crew later on.

The two boats pulled up to a large shack that rested by the water. It had been built on a massive tree stump and there was an uneven ladder leading up to the door. Lights shone from the windows, though it was still quite gloomy down by the water. Jack and I climbed out of the boat, along with most of the others.

Jack stepped up to the ladder. "No worries, mates," he tried to assure them. He wasn't doing a very good job of assuring _himself_, unfortunately. "Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable, we are." Jack began to lose his confidence and his smile turned into a frown. "Were. Have been. Before…"

Gibbs stepped up to him. "I'll watch your back," he told his captain with a sure smile.

Jack turned to the ladder, a grimace on his face. "It's me _front_ I'm worried about…"

"Well, I'll watch your front," I assured my assignment. "Your relationship with Tia sounds a lot like the one you have with me."

Jack shook his head with a small smile. I smiled back, knowing that his relationship with Tia had some distinct differences that I didn't particularly want to go into.

Gibbs turned to Will and told him to "mind the boat." The message continued to be passed on down through the pirates until it got to Cotton, who could pass it on no further and slumped in the boat, looking a little disappointed.

Jack opened the door to the shack, putting on an air of confidence the moment he stepped through the door, as though afraid to show any point of weakness to whoever might be inside. Many lit candles gave the room a warm glow, but it was still the type of place where you didn't want to wander too far for a fear of what you could find. Various jars, bottles and a few shrunken heads hung by strings from the ceiling, and beautiful albino boa constrictor was curled around one of the tree trunks that supported the shack. The room smelled of magic, and I could feel Tia's power subtly in the background the entire time.

Tia Dalma herself looked a lot younger than she really was. A powerful woman with black eyes, dreadlocks, a strong accent and many secrets, she reminded me very much of a cat. She looked up and, although she seemed a little surprised at first, that surprise quickly turned into a smile when Jack entered. "Jack Sparra_'_," she purred happily, glad to see him.

"Tia Dalma," Jack said with a winning smile. I came in after him on his heels, and just as I opened my mouth to give him a warning as to a glass bottle he was about to ram his forehead into, he ducked around it, leaving me to simply roll my eyes.

Tia stood and sauntered across to us as Gibbs, Pintel, and Ragetti slowly filed in. "I always knew the wind was going to blow you back to me one day," Tia said to Jack with a broad, inky grin. Her eyes slid over to Will thoughtfully, and it was there they remained. Suddenly, _all_ of her attention was on him.

"_You_," she said, moving towards him. "You have a touch of destiny about you… William _Turner_."

Will frowned. How could she know his name? "You know me?" Jack frowned at me, not liking the attention Tia was placing on Will. I only shrugged.

Tia smiled seductively. "You want to know _me_…" she offered suggestively.

Jack rushed over to get Tia away from Will with a slight cough. "There will be no _knowing_ here. We've come for help and we're not leaving without it." He shot Will a look of daggers, and turned Tia away, leading her away with his hands on her shoulder. "I thought _I_ knew you," he said to her as they walked away.

"Not so well as I had hoped," the voodoo priestess told him vaguely. I smirked. "Come."

"Come," Jack repeated, beckoning Will further into the room. Will came and sat down at Tia's table hesitantly, though it appeared as though he would rather keep his distance from her.

Tia ran her fingers across the blacksmith's cheek, and he tried very hard not to flinch. "What _service_ may I do you?" She suddenly looked up at Jack, all business. "You know I demand _payment_."

Jack knew this, as he was prepared. "I _brought_ payment!" He whistled for Pintel to bring it forward. Jack took the cover off the object in Pintel's arms. It was a small cage with the cursed monkey inside. Jack took the cage and held it up to Tia. He took out his pistol, cocked it, and aimed it at the monkey. "Look!" He said cheerily, just as he fired at the animal. It shrieked and leapt to the far side of the cage, but was unharmed. "An undead monkey!" Jack proudly placed the cage on the table. "Top that!"

Tia considered the animal for a moment with a curious gaze. Then something strange flickering in her eyes before she nodded slightly, undid the latch on the cage, and opened the door. The monkey leapt away and scampered into a back room, probably terrified that someone would try to catch him again. Gibbs winced.

"No!" He sighed at Tia. "You've no _idea_ how long it took us to catch that…"

I nodded sympathetically, though I couldn't stop myself from smirking in amusement. I had been there. It wasn't a fun task, trying to catch the cursed thing, but it was funny as hell to watch.

"The payment is fair," Tia decided. She put the cage on the ground, getting out of the way before taking her seat at the table again.

Will took the cloth that had a picture of the key on it out of his pocket. He unfolded the cloth and slapped it on the table. "We're looking for this." Tia looked at the drawing darkly. She knew imminently what it was, and her eyes widened considerably. "_And_ what it goes to," Will added quickly..

Tia raised her eyes to Jack, who was looking at a hat he thought he vaguely recognized as he held it in his hands. The once fancy feathers on top of it seemed to have been cut. "The compass you bartered from me, it cannot lead you to _this?_" Tia demanded of Jack.

"Maybe," Jack answered. Tia sat down in her chair. "Why?"

Tia smiled slowly. "I hear you," she purred, a taunting tone in her voice. "Jack Sparrow does not know what he _wants_. Or, do you know, but are loath to claim it as your own?"

I smiled slightly. Tia had seen right through Jack and understood him at his core. I was glad someone other than me could. Jack never answered Tia, but in doing so, he confirmed these suspicions.

Tia turned her attention to the group, shifting her weight in her chair to get comfortable. "Your key go to a chest," she announced. "And it is what lay _inside_ the chest you seek." She looked to Will. "Don't it?"

"What _is_ inside?" Gibbs asked her.

"Gold?" Pintel guessed. "Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?"

Ragetti had just realised he was standing next to a jar filled with eye balls, and he did a double-take. My heart went out to him. "Nothing… _bad_, I hope," he said nervously, forcing himself to look away from the eyes.

Tia smiled and leaned towards them. "You know of Davy Jones, yes? A man of the sea. A great sailor until he run afoul of that which vex all men."

Meanwhile, Jack had pinched something and placed it in his pocket. I scowled at him and he winked at me. I rolled my eyes. _Pirate_.

"What vexes all men?" Will asked.

Tia put her hand over his on the table, trying once again to seduce him. She shouldn't have bothered, because even I could tell Will wasn't interested. That didn't seem to be much of a deterrent to her though. "What indeed?" Tia purred.

"The sea?" Gibbs answered unsurely.

"Sums?" Pintel guessed.

"The dichotomy of good and evil?" Ragetti tried his hand at the game. The others gave him a queer look, each silently asking in their own ways something along the lines of, 'where in the _world_ did he come up with that?' My heart went out to him again. It was certainly something that would have been vexing him of late.

"A _woman_," Jack corrected them, rolling his eyes. Their gaze turned to him. I considered my assignment's answer. Perhaps a woman was part of what was vexing him?

"A wo-_man_," Tia agreed smugly. "He fell in love."

"No, no, no, no," Gibbs argued, shaking his head. "I heard it was the _sea_ he fell in love with."

"Same story, different versions! And all are _true_!" Tia snapped. "See, it was a _woman,_ as changing and harsh and _untameable_ as 'de sea. 'Im never stop loving her." Will's gaze was down, thinking about Elizabeth. "But the pain it cause him was too much to live with, but _not_ enough to cause him to die."

Will looked at her strangely, curiosity written into his features. "What exactly did he put into the chest?"

She grinned. "Him heart," Tia answered, putting a hand to her own.

"Literally, or… figuratively?" Ragetti asked.

"He couldn't _literally_ put his heart in a chest!" Pintel snapped at him. Then he paused and looked at Tia. "Could he?"

Tia gave him a look that clearly answered his question. "It was not worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings," she explained with the wave of her hand. "And so, him _carve_ out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and 'ide the chest from the world. " She nodded to the drawing. "The key he keep with him at _all_ times."

Will stood up and turned to Jack. "You knew this," he accused.

"I did _not_," Jack argued. "I didn't know where the key was, but now we do, and all that's left is to climb aboard the _Flying Dutchman, _grab the key, you go back to Port Royal and save your bonnie lass, eh?"

Jack snapped his fingers and turned to go. Tia stood up and reached out a hand. She knew there had to be a reason why Jack and company were after the key and Davy Jones' chest, and she wanted to make sure her guess was correct. Her voice stopped him in his tracks. "Let me see your hand," she ordered Jack, her tone serious.

Jack hesitated, smiled and offered her his right hand. She gave him a dark look. Jack rolled his eyes and gave her his bandaged left hand. With the same care I took when unwrapping it, Tia unwound the cloth and exposed the Black Spot. Gibbs gasped and recoiled.

"The Black Spot!" He rubbed his hands on his shirt, danced in a circle, and spat in some kind of superstitious ritual to keep him from getting it. Pintel and Ragetti followed him and did the same. I rolled my eyes, and as did Jack.

"My eyesight's just as good as ever, just so you know," he told them all, feigning a grin.

Tia rolled her eyes before disappeared behind a curtain, muttering to herself and looking for something. Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti peered after her, trying to see what she was doing as a clattering of what sounded like pans and pots reached their ears. Jack the monkey was visible sitting at the foot of a bed beside a pair of black boots. The man wearing the boots was not visible, but I realised I knew who it was. The monkey cooed softly to him. While everyone was distracted, Jack pocketed a ring he found on a table alongside a locket that looked like a heart with crab claws.

When Tia Dalma emerged from the back room, she had with her a large, corked glass jar of sand and dirt. "Davy Jones cannot make port," she explained. "Cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are _safe_, Jack Sparrow."

Jack frowned. We had already tried staying on land, and Jack was almost cooked and eaten. Almost everywhere else was claimed by the East India Trading company. "And so you will carry land with you," Tia said, giving him the jar of dirt.

Jack studied it, confused, perhaps expecting something more fancy. "Dirt," he stated. "This is a jar of _dirt_."

"Yes," Tia confirmed in a slow drawl.

Jack smiled weakly. "Is the jar of dirt going to help?"

Tia's tone grew icy. "If you don't want it, give it _back_."

Jack clutched the jar tightly to his body. "No."

Tia smiled. "Then it 'elps."

"It seems we have a need to find the _Flying Dutchman,_" Will said. Tia smiled at him and sat back down at the table. She gathered up some crab claws in her hands and shook them gently, her eyes closed.

"A touch… of _destiny_," she said, scattering the claws over a grid scratched into the table top. These claws I knew would represent the islands where the Kraken's latest victim was run aground. "_That_ is where you will find them."

The pirates took a note of the heading and got ready to go. None of them particularly wanted to linger there anymore, which I couldn't blame them for.

"If anything happens," Tia said as they headed out. "Come back to me here, if you can."

Jack smiled, still clutching his jar of dirt. "Much obliged, Tia."

He and I were the last ones out. Just as Jack stepped through the door I looked back at Tia one last time. The voodoo priestess was looking at Jack as he left… no, wait… it may have just been my imagination, but it seemed like she was looking _right at me_. It was bizarre.

No one but my assignments are supposed to see me, but Tia Dalma made eye contact with me. I froze, and examined her just to be sure. Yep, no doubt about it, she saw me. Tia smiled slowly, provoking a smile from me in return. I decided that she must have known I was there the whole time, but because she gave no sign of it until now, I felt confidant that she wouldn't tell anyone about me. She nodded her head towards me in a blessing and I returned the favour. Feeling better, though a little strange, I turned and followed my assignment about of the shack, already dreading what I knew was yet to come.


	8. Accept That Offer

The trip to the location Tia Dalma had shown us was not fun. By the time we arrived, it was absolutely pouring with rain, thunder and lightning only adding to the foreboding atmosphere. I was cold, wet, and miserable, but I was the one who seemed to be the most bothered out of Jack and his crew. I guess they were more used to tropical storms than I.

It wasn't long before we came upon a shipwreck, moored by a scattering of sharp rocks. The ship had been broken in two right in the middle, from port to starboard. This was tell-tale evidence of a Kraken attack, I thought to myself. Gibbs privately asked Jack if that was the _Flying Dutchman_.

"No," Jack said, his voice a low mutter. I shook my head along with him, even though Gibbs couldn't see it. "But it's been here. Can't let the whelp know that, though."

Gibbs nodded, looking worried. At this time, Will was looking out at the wrecked ship from the _Pearl_'s railing. He turned back to look at Jack and Gibbs. "_That's_ the _Flying Dutchman_?" he asked, unimpressed.

Jack was stroking his beard to try to hide his anxiety. Gibbs nodded slightly at Will, still looking out at the wrecked ship as if expecting the real _Dutchman_ to come bursting through the fog at any moment. They both had every right to be afraid, however, so I couldn't hold it against them. That didn't change the fact that I felt quite bad for Will, because Jack was technically lying to him.

Will, however, had none of this fear that seemed to have taken over the other two men. He shrugged and turned back to the ship. "She doesn't look like much," he said as Jack, Gibbs, and I approached him.

"Neither do you," Jack reminded Will. "Do _not_ underestimate her."

I nodded with a smile. It was very good advice, and something Jack had learned about Will the hard way.

Jack elbowed Gibbs in the ribs. "Must have run afoul of the reef," the first mate suggested, sounding more fake than not; his voice was too high and nervous sounding.

"So, what's your plan, then?" Jack asked Will after they simply stared at the wreck of a ship for another moment longer.

"I row over, search the ship until I find your bloody key," Will answered, annoyed that he was having to do Jack's dirty work for him.

"And if there are crewmen?" Jack inquired.

"I cut down anyone in my path," Will said simply, aggravation and venom in his usually agreeable voice. He pushed off the railing and went down to where Ragetti was holding a longboat ready for him, grabbing a lantern along the way.

Jack shrugged. "I like it," he said of the plan. "Simple, easy to remember." He and I followed Will, and watched as he climbed down the ladder on the side of the ship, which led down to the little boat.

"Your chariot awaits you, sire!" Ragetti cackled up at him, shouting above the wind and laughing at his own little joke. At that moment, with the howling wind, falling rain, and just the menacing tone in his voice… the mood struck me as altogether _evil_, and sent a chill down my spine.

Pintel, Gibbs, Jack and I leaned our heads over the side as the young man climbed easily into his boat. Jack hollered down at Will. "Oi! If you do happen to get captured, just say Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt! It might save your life!" he said with a nod, as though that was the only way it could be proven to be true.

Ragetti kicked the longboat with Will in it away from the _Pearl_. "Bon voyage!" the one-eyed pirate shouted as Will began to row towards the wrecked ship. As Ragetti climbed back up onboard, Jack turned to Pintel. "Douse the lamps," he told him, the humor now gone from his own, now slightly hoarse voice.

Pintel and various other crew members set about doing as Jack said. One by one, the lights on the _Black Pearl _went out, causing the ship to all but disappear in the rain, fog and blackness of the night. A hint of a smile appeared on my face. _This_ was why it was good to have a black ship with black sails. We were almost invisible in this environment.

Almost.

We watched and waited for several minutes, our eyes squinted in an effort to see what was going on the broken deck of the other ship. I fidgeted with my hands, cracking my knuckles anxiously. I knew that the _Flying Dutchman _was coming. This was more than just foreknowledge of it happening. I could _feel_ the ghostly ship lurking nearby.

I wasn't surprised when the giant grey form of the _Dutchman_ erupted out of the water like a living thing near the wrecked ship, but I was still struck with awe. My mouth dropped oven as I gawked at it. It had a strange sort of haunting beauty, but at the same time the vibes of evil and danger were still very strong. I could sense Davy Jones' magic and the magic that the ship held - the lost souls bound in servitude. It gave me more chills than the cold rain ever could, and I subconsciously found myself wrapping my arms around myself.

Those upon the deck of the _Black Pearl _couldn't stop staring, and rightfully so. Many of them, who weren't even remotely religious, crossed themselves and closed their eyes as they started to pray. Briefly, I heard Ragetti mutter something about wishing he hadn't left his Bible back on the Pelegostos' island.

I knew that Davy Jones' malformed crew was now swarming the wreck, rounding up the few survivors. A flash of light told me that Will was fighting back with his sword that had been dipped in tar, then smashed into the lantern, causing it to set on fire. He was no match for the sheer number of powerful and cursed crewmen though, and it wasn't long before he was knocked unconscious. I sighed and, as though the weather was trying to make it easier for us, the rain stopped.

I decided to send my mind over to the other ship just as Davy Jones himself was walking on board. I could see and hear his crab peg-leg thumping against the wooden deck; his large beard of writhing octopus tentacles was disgusting, but somehow hypnotic to watch. Jones walked up to his left tenant, Maccus - a man with a hammer-head face and lobster legs kicking out of his spine.

"Five men still alive. The rest of moved on," Maccus told his captain promptly, his eyes then swinging to the men as the others leered.

Jones walked down the length of the lined up survivors, including Will. He paused at one man and slowly closed his crab claw hand. Jones leaned in close to one trembling and whimpering survivor and lit his pipe.

"Do you fear _death_?" Davy Jones asked the terrified man, blowing smoke in his face. A tube on the side of his face blew out his match and exhaled smoke. "Do you fear that dark abyss?"

His voice was almost hypnotic, and I had to fight to stop from trembling. His thick accent mixed with his words, and his mock-pleasant tone; it was chilling, just to have to hear it. The trembling man managed to nod.

"All your deeds laid bare," Jones continued. "All your sins _punished_. I can offer you an _escape_."

The man looked up at Jones with a gleam of hope in his eyes.

"Don't listen to him!" another man shouted. A moment later he seemed to realize what he said and gasped, immediately averting his eyes and staring down at the deck he kneeled upon. Jones whipped his head and looked at the man, noticing the rosary clutched in his shaking hands. Jones got up and grabbed the man's throat in his crab claw. He glared down at the man's wide eyes.

"Do you not fear death?" Jones asked, taking a long drag on his pipe and narrowing his electric blue eyes. There was only defiance there.

"I'll take my chances, sir," the man replied, raising his chin defiantly, his eyes devoid of even the smallest trace of hope.

Jones let him go and looked to one of his crew members who was guarding the prisoners. "To the depths," he told him.

The man who had protested promptly had his throat slit. One of the cannons was fired as his body was dumped overboard. I saw Will cringe.

"Cruel blackguard!" another prisoner spat at Davy Jones.

Jones looked down at him coldly. "Life is cruel." He gave his pipe two sharp taps on his crab claw to empty it. "Why should the afterlife be any _different_?" Davy Jones turned his gaze to the rest of the kneeling prisoners, focusing on the one he had addressed earlier. "I offer you a _choice_. Join my crew and postpone the judgment. One hundred years before the mast. Will ye serve?"

"I-I will serve," the man said after a moment, vigorously nodding, though shaking and with a stuttering voice at the same time.

"_There_," Jones praised, his eyes once again wide with a restrained sort of glee.

The rest of Jones' crew laughed. The new member didn't know what was going to happen to him, though seemed ready to accept it. I wondered how many of them regretted joining Davy Jones' crew when given time to reflect upon it, later.

Jones walked down the line and paused at Will as if he had only just noticed he was there. He frowned at him. "You are neither dead nor dying," he accused, the malice back in his voice. He glanced at Maccus, then demanded of Will, "What is your purpose here?"

Will knew he was in trouble, so he played the card Jack had given him, though he seemed very hesitant to do so. "Jack Sparrow… sent me to settle his debt," Will answered in trepidation.

Jones' beady eyes widened and he took another step towards Will. "_What_ is your purpose here?" he asked again, as if he wasn't sure he had heard him properly.

Will shrugged. "Jack Sparrow… sent me to settle his debt?" he repeated, phrasing it as though it was a question.

Jones' slimy face broke into a grin. "Huh, _did_ he now? I'm sorely tempted to _accept_ that offer!"

I blinked in a slight panic and my mind crashed back with my body beside my assignment onboard the _Black Pearl_. Instantly, I played victim to a small headache, which I ignored in favor or what was about to happen in front of me.

Jack had been watching the goings on through his telescope. I bit my lip, still a little more than slightly concerned for Will, even though I was sure he was going to be okay. Jack focused on Davy Jones as the cursed captain turned and stared across at him. The next thing we knew, Davy Jones had appeared on the deck of the _Black Pearl _and was standing right in front of us. I had been expecting him to do this, but even still I was startled. I yelped and jumped back as the rest of the crew gasped in fright. Some members of Jones' crew had crossed over with him, and they moved to restrain Jack's crew, holding blades to their throats to make sure they wouldn't move. I bit my lip and saw Pintel and Ragetti whimper in fear. Jack watched them, startled. Then he looked at Davy Jones.

"Oh," was all Jack could think to say.

Davy Jones lurched forward menacingly, his tentacled beard writhing. I clenched my jaw to stop from saying something I shouldn't and also from throwing up. "You've got a dept to pay," Jones growled. "You've been captain of the _Black Pearl _for thirteen years. _That_ was our agreement."

Jack and I had been forced backwards, intimidated by Jones. "Technically, I was only captain for two years," Jack argued, struggling to make his case, "then I was _viciously_ mutinied upon—"

"Then you were a _poor_ captain, but a captain _nonetheless_." Jones strutted around Jack, mocking him. "Have you not introduced yourself all these years as '_Captain Jack Sparrow'_?"

Jones' crew cackled. Jack closed his eyes and sighed, knowing that his runaway ego had once again landed him in a bad spot. He opened his eyes and turned to face Jones. "You _have_ my payment! One soul to serve on your ship. He's already _over_ there." He gestured wildly over his shoulder to where Will was still on the wrecked ship.

"One soul is not equal to another," Jones countered dangerously.

Jack took the chance to leap on this loophole. "Aha! So we've established my proposal is sound in principle. Now we're just haggling over price." I had to smile just a little at my assignment. He had managed to find a small hole in an otherwise ironclad deal and was now going to exploit it for all it was worth.

Davy Jones gave Jack a quizzical look. "Price?" he said, popping his wet, fishy lips in a very strange, almost uncharacteristic manner—though perhaps it would have been more so if his whole face didn't consist of octopus tentacles.

Jack took this as a positive sign, and continued to spin his new deal. "Just how many souls do you think my soul is worth?"

Davy Jones thought about it, popping his lips some more. Then he decided on an impossible goal. "One hundred souls… three days."

Jack was smart enough not to push this goal too far. "You're a _diamond_, mate." He turned and started to walk away. "Send me back the boy. I'll start right off." Jack found his path blocked by a hissing Maccus.

"_I_ keep the boy," Jones insisted. "A good-faith payment. That only leaves you only ninety-nine more to go." He and his crew laughed again. I frowned at them.

"Jack, remember Jones' weakness," I said. His eyes flickered to me. "Love." Then Jack remembered what Tia Dalma had said about why Davy Jones had cut out his heart in the first place and a small, knowing grin spread across his slightly scruffy face.

"Have you not met Will Turner?" Jack asked Jones, turning on his heel and striding right up to him. "He's noble, heroic, a _terrific_ soprano," here I flashed a grin and suppressed a giggle, "Worth at least four… maybe three and a half." I nodded, silently agreeing. Then Jack went in for the kill, getting at the cursed captain's core. "And did I happen to mention… he's in love?" Jones' blue eyes snapped up at the word 'love.' Now Jack _really_ had his attention. "With a girl," Jack specified. I rolled my eyes. He started to circle around him, and I followed my assignment, keeping a watchful eye on Jones. "Due to be married. _Betrothed_. Dividing him from her and her from him would only be _half_ as cruel as actually allowing them to be joined in holy matrimony, eh?"

Davy Jones' eyes were not visible to us, but I knew they swam in deep, yet momentary sadness. He was remembering his own lost love, the pain it had caused him… he seemed to hesitate, but then just as quickly, he snapped out of it. He looked at Jack over his shoulder, then re-announced his final decision, his voice bitter.

"I keep the boy, ninety-nine souls." Jones turned to face Jack. "But I wonder, Sparrow, can you live with this? Can you condemn an innocent man, a _friend_, to a lifetime of servitude while you roam free?" He cocked his head, awaiting Jack's answer.

I shook my head, biting my lip once more, silently pleading with Jack not to do what I knew he would do. Jack frowned, then suddenly grinned. "Yep. I'm good with it." I slapped my palm to my forehead with a sigh. I knew that decision was going to come back and bite Jack in the ass later. Jack, however, didn't seem to notice my reaction, or if he did, he was ignoring it. "Shall we seal it in blood…um…" Jack looked down at Jones' tentacle-like hand. "Ink?"

Davy Jones grabbed Jack's left hand in his tentacled one and squeezed tightly. Jack gasped at the unpleasant sensation, and instantly, his eyes seemed a little unfocused. "Three days," Jones reminded Jack darkly. Then he let go, (with a bit of difficulty from the suckers on the tentacle,) and he and the rest of his crew disappeared onto the _Flying Dutchman. _

Jack looked with disgust at his slime-covered hand. He watched as the Black Spot on his palm faded. I breathed a slight sigh of relief; he spot was gone, as were Jones and his crew temporarily. True, they had Will… but I had every confidence he would be able to look after himself, plus he had his father there to look after him too.

Jack spoke up, his voice slightly wavering. "Er, Mr Gibbs."

Gibbs approached Jack. "Aye?"

"I-I feel sullied, and unusual," Jack said, his voice slightly distant, as if lost in thought.

"And how do you intend to harvest these ninety-nine souls in three days?" Gibbs asked, more than a little annoyed that Jack had led them—once again—into trouble.

"What's the only free port left in these waters?" I asked Jack, already knowing the answer myself. Jack knew once again what I was talking about; I had to smile, because I loved not having to explain everything to him. He was smart, even if some of his more unsavory habits outshone this.

"Fortunately, he was mum as to the condition in which these souls need be." Jack's voice regained strength and the Jack Sparrow spark. That meant he had a plan.

Gibbs understood what Jack was intending. "Ah, Tortuga."

Jack wiped his slimy hand on Gibbs' shirt. "Tortuga," he agreed, not even reacting as Gibbs looked down at his now sullied shirt in disgust.

I grinned. "Turtuga. It's about time we docked there."

Jack and I shared a smile; he confidant in his plan, and me trying to believe that it would work, even though I knew it would not…


	9. Tortuga

Tortuga was just as I remembered it: loud, dirty, and very chaotic, with an overabundance of drunken pirates, wenches, and all manner of other seedy types. A perfect place to pick up a few extra souls. Jack and I sat in a tavern, trying to make his compass co-operate. He leaned back in a chair with his feet up on the table, while I sat cross-legged on the table top, careful of the candles burning beside me and Jack's tin mug of rum. A lively band was playing and Gibbs was stationed at a nearby table, recruiting men to join the _Black Pearl_'s crew.

"And what makes you think you're worthy to crew the _Black Pearl_?" Gibbs asked the first man in line. I listened in on them half-heartedly, keeping my attention divided between the irate Jack Sparrow and the recruitment going on.

"Truth be told, I've never sailed a day in my life," the man confessed, his long grayish white hair hanging down as he leaned on a staff. "I figured I should get out and see the world while I'm still young."

I smiled and shook my head. Gibbs smiled too; a professional twist of the lips, though he was probably resisting the urge to snicker. "You'll do," he told the man. He gestured to the papers and pen at his table. "Make your mark." Then, as the first man did so, Gibbs looked to the next man in line. "Next!"

Beside me, Jack furiously shook the compass. He was getting very frustrated, opening and closing it again and again to check if the needle would hold steady. I leaned over and placed my hand on the compass, momentarily gaining his attention. "Jack, did you ever think that Tia was right? That the compass won't work because deep down, you really _don't_ want what it is that you want most in this world?" Jack gave me a dark look in response. I shrugged and went back to watching Gibbs.

The next man in line had a tragic tale indeed. "My wife ran off with my dog, and I'm drunk for a month, and I don't give an ass rats' if I live or die."

"Perfect!" Gibbs declared cheerily. "Next!"

I heard Jack muttering to himself, his eyes closed as he focused with all his strength. "I know what I want, I know what I want, I know what I want…"

The next man in line was tall and dark skinned. "Me have one arm and a bum leg," he rumbled, though he didn't appear to be very remorseful about it.

"It's the crow's nest for you," Gibbs told him wisely. "Next!"

"_I know what I want!_" Jack growled to the compass. He opened it again, a hopeful expression on his scruffy face, and had no more luck than he had before. He scowled and snapped it closed again.

"Ever since I was a little lad," the next man in Gibbs' line recalled. "I've always wanted to sail the seas… forever."

"Sooner than you think," Gibbs said with a wink. "Sign the roster."

"Thanks very much," the new crew member said as he made his mark at the bottom of the list.

"How we going?" Jack asked Gibbs.

"Including those four, that gives us… four," Gibbs answered, not entirely pleased. After all, he was the one doing all the recruiting work there.

He looked to the next man who stepped up to the table. My eyes widened as I recognized him. It was tricky to at first, but his voice made it easier.

"And what's your story?" Gibbs asked him.

"My story…" the man slurred. "It's exactly the same as _your_ story, only one chapter behind." I realized the truth in this, as both these men were once in the navy, but had left that life for dishonest sailing for one reason or another.

"I chased a man across the seven seas," the man continued. Jack snapped the compass closed, recognizing the voice and feeling a twinge of apprehension. "The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life." The man reached for a bottle of rum sitting on Gibbs' table and took a swig from it.

Gibbs himself had also recognized the man by now. "Commodore?"

It was indeed Norrington, though he was a Commodore no longer. He still had his royal blue navy coat, but it was dirty and tattered. He still had the powdered wig as well, but it was completely ruined. He was filthy, drunk, and obviously wanting revenge.

"No, not anymore! Weren't you _listening_?" he snapped, lowering his bottle and glaring at Gibbs.

I turned to a nervous-looking Jack. "I think it would be wise for us to move."

Jack nodded and uprooted a potted plant behind which to hide himself as he slunk away. Back at the table, Norrington leaned in towards Gibbs, and spoke in a harsh whisper. "I nearly had you all off Tripoli. I would have, if not for the hurricane."

Gibbs was shocked. "Lord, you didn't try to sail through it?" I sighed. Obviously, because of his increasing desperation to catch Jack Sparrow, he had, and it had cost him everything.

Jack and I tried to be as inconspicuous as we could as we snuck around to the other side of the tavern. Unfortunately for Jack, I had a much easier time being inconspicuous.

"So do I make your crew, or not?" I heard Norrington ask. Gibbs looked around for Jack, trying to think. "You haven't said where you're going," Norrington noted, reaching the end of his rope. "Somewhere _nice?_" he shouted, finally seeming to completely snap as he upended the table.

Gibbs fell backwards off his chair and everything clattered to the floor. The music stopped as the other patrons in the tavern noticed the commotion Norrington had caused. A few ladies gasped. "So am I worthy to serve under _Captain_ Jack Sparrow?" Norrington demanded the crowd, arms spread wide. His speech was really directed to the man he knew was hiding and trying, very unsuccessfully I might add, to escape unnoticed.

As if to prove this, Norrington took his pistol from his belt and pointed it in Jack's direction. Jack froze, seeing Norrington out of the corner of his eye. I held my breath and moved myself between the two, hoping that I wouldn't have to take a bullet for Jack. I was prepared to anyway, just in case. It was drastic, yes, but part of the job. "Or should I just kill you now?" Norrington sneered.

Jack was also already half hidden behind a wooden pillar. He knew that the pillar held better protection than the tall plant he still held, so he tried to fully duck behind it. Norrington followed his movements, keeping his aim on his pirate enemy steady. Jack moved back and fourth a few times, and seeing no escape from his aim, he smiled what he hoped was his best smile.

"You're hired."

"Sorry," Norrington said unsympathetically, still ready to shoot. "Old habits and all that."

Jack was saved by two of his new recruits who jumped in and grabbed Norrington, forcing his aim upwards.

"Easy sailor!" one shouted.

"That's our captain you're threatening," the other added. I nearly sighed, realizing the irony of these people pledging themselves to a captain that only wanted them aboard his ship so he could hand them over to Davy Jones. Jack saw his chance to escape and took it, ducking once again out of view with me close behind.

The fight for control over Norrington's pistol resulted in it discharging into the air above the crowd. The bullet ricocheted off of the chandelier above Norrington's head and hit a mug just as a man was drinking from it. The man was unharmed, but startled. Suddenly finding himself without a drink, and already quite drunk, he did the next best thing that came to mind: he punched the man standing beside him.

That's all it took for a full-blown bar fight to break out. It was a blessing in disguise, though, as it allowed Jack to escape from Norrington and his trigger finger. I was amused by the fact that the band picked up again and played a merry jig throughout the entire fight.

Jack plopped the plant into an open barrel and called to Gibbs, who was hiding behind his over-turned table. "Time to go!"

"Aye!" Gibbs agreed, scampering to Jack's side.

Jack, Gibbs and I picked our way through the individual fights that made up the one big brawl. My main goal, other than not to be separated from Jack, was to avoid having anyone pass through me by mistake. There was so much chaos all around me, it was hard to notice any particular details of the fighting, though I did take note of a man who had jumped off of the second story railing and was swinging from the chandelier.

Jack led us towards the stairs and started to climb them. He narrowly missed having his head struck by a flying bottle of rum that smashed against the wall. Instead, he picked up a discarded tri-corn hat and tried it on for size. I smiled a bit as I recognized what he was trying to do; he was attempting to replace the original hat he had lost. However, none of the ones he tried on seemed to fit or suit him quite right. Each hat that he sampled, he tried to place on the head of a passing man engaged in drunken battle.

At the top of the stairs, Jack swapped hats with a drunk sitting on the edge of the balcony and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks, mate." This slight motion caused the man to tip over the side and fall to the floor below. It should have been terrible, but I actually found it quite amusing.

Jack still wasn't satisfied with the new hat he had and took it off. Two men were just about to throw a third off the balcony and Jack and I stepped into their path. We all paused, and Jack placed the hat onto the head of the doomed man and stepped back. "Carry on," Jack said, allowing the others to toss the drunk over. Then Jack, Gibbs and I moved to the back of the inn and found our way outside.

"Shame you couldn't find another hat to replace your old one, Jack," I remarked. He 'mmm'ed softly, agreeing.

"Now what?" Gibbs asked his captain.

"Now we gather up our new crew and stock the ship with supplies," Jack ordered as we headed down toward the docks.

"But Cap'n, we don't have ninety-nine souls yet," Gibbs reminded him.

Jack looked to me. I shrugged. "We did our best, but there's no way we were going to get that many. We just have to move on."

"We'll have to make due," Jack replied to Gibbs. "Come on."

As we walked, I could hear the fight in the tavern began to die down in the background. I sighed softly, thinking of two particular new crew members and what events would unfold because of their presence on the _Black Pearl_.


	10. A New Heading

We were forced to leave Tortuga with rather fewer new crew members than Jack wanted, but we would never have been able to convince a hundred souls to come with us in three days, anyway, so hopes hadn't been up in the first place.

Time was running short, so we gathered what crew we did have and began to re-stock the _Black Pearl_'s hold with supplies. There was a chill in the air down by the docks. The area smelt strongly of filth, seaweed and fish, as well as the various smells normally associated with drunk people. It was very dark, with only a few torches and lanterns hung about, their light shining on the dark, wet wood of the ships and jetty. The shouts from the tavern and the ominous sound of creaking ropes and ships added to the slightly foreboding atmosphere. It was like there was something telling me to stay there, 'don't go out on the open sea where it's dangerous'. I hugged myself as I walked down the dock towards the _Pearl_ with Jack and Gibbs.

A voice I instantly recognised called out from behind us. "Captain Sparrow!"

Jack briefly glanced behind him as he sauntered up to his ship. "Come to join me crew, lad?" he assumed. One more soul to help save his own. "Welcome aboard."

"I'm here to find the man I love," the voice said. I had to smile and giggle a bit as Jack stopped dead in his tracks with a gulp and a disturbed look on his face. The last thing he really needed was the affections of who he assumed to be a young man.

"I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea." Jack made a gesture for someone to get the boy out of there ASAP.

There was some rapid movement, but it wasn't to get the lad off the docks. It came from Norrington, who had also been making his way towards us. He ran to the edge and threw up into the water. I closed my eyes in disgust, still finding it hard to believe that this was the same man who had once been a noble, straight-laced Commodore.

The 'lad' took the chance to be specific. "Meaning William _Turner_, Captain Sparrow."

Jack whipped around and finally recognized her. "Elizabeth." He looked her up and down, genuinely surprised, both to see her and at her state of dress. She had done a good job passing as a boy. I smiled a little, thinking of Viola from Shakespeare's _'Twelfth Night.' _Gibbs also gaped at Elizabeth, perhaps remembering the pretty little girl in her fancy dress looking out over the fog-bound sea and singing about pirates. My, how she'd changed…

Jack turned to Gibbs and handed him the bottle he had been carrying. "Hide the rum." I put my hand to my mouth to prevent another giggle from escaping. Jack was obviously having bad flashbacks of the night we spent on the Isle of the Rumrunners. Gibbs quickly scurried off to follow his Captain's orders. He loved rum just as much as Jack did, and he would have heard the tale of the rum-fuelled bonfire Elizabeth had created.

Jack turned his attention back to the disguised woman. "You know, these clothes do not flatter you at all. It should be a dress or nothing." He gestured to the ship behind him with a smile. "I happen to have no dress in my cabin." I rolled my eyes and hit Jack in the arm. It was my way of saying "dude, that is _so_ not cool!"

"Jack," Elizabeth said in a tone which meant she likewise had no time for Jack Sparrow's sleazy wit. She paused, perhaps not believing she was going to be asking Jack for help again. Her face and tone radiated the fact that she didn't want to put up with him any more than absolutely necessary. Elizabeth sighed, deciding to get straight to the point. "I know Will came to find you. Where is he?"

Jack sighed. There was no easy way of telling her about what had happened to Will. "Darling, I am truly unhappy to tell you this, but…" he took a few steps towards her. "…through unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that had _nothing _whatsoever to do with me…" I rolled my eyes again. "…poor Will has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."

Confusion flashed across Elizabeth's features. "Davy Jones?"

The sound of Norrington heaving interrupted them. Jack looked alarmed at him as he paused from his spluttering and looked up at them. He breathed heavily and had to lean on some barrels to keep upright. He looked like death, slightly warmed over. "Oh _please_. The captain of the _Flying Dutchman_?" Norrington's tone was full of disbelief and disgrace, like he was really one to talk.

Jack seemed to echo some of my thoughts. "You look bloody awful. What are you doing here?"

"You _hired_ me," Norrington reminded him. "I can't help it if your standards are lax."

"You _smell_ funny!" was Jack's witty reply.

"Jack!" Elizabeth shouted, wanting to keep Jack's attention on Will's plight and what could be done about it. Jack looked back at her, slightly startled. She spoke very carefully so he would understand. "All I want is to find Will."

Jack frowned and looked away, knowing that would be next to impossible and feeling a bit sorry for Elizabeth. Then an idea blinked into life. It was because of what Elizabeth had said about what she wanted. Here was someone who, right then, was dead-set on that decision and that had little chance of changing. Right then and now, she wanted to find Will, and therefore make sure he was safe. I could almost hear the connections in Jack's brain firing off. I smiled slowly. I never even had to say a word to my assignment as he came up with a way to finally find the chest of Davy Jones.

"Are you certain? Is that what you really want most?" he asked her.

"Of course," Elizabeth replied. This was a good answer. Jack began to weave his plan into action.

He began to shepherd her towards the _Pearl_. "Because I would think you would want to find a way to _save_ Will most."

Elizabeth stopped, still slightly weary of Jack. "And you'd have a way of doing that?"

"Well… there is a chest."

Norrington, who was still eavesdropping, moaned "oh, dear." He had a bad feeling about where this story was heading, and rightfully so.

Jack ignored him. "A chest of unknown size and origin."

Pintel and Ragetti, carrying a crate of rum bottles, shuffled past and heard Jack talking about the chest. "What contains the still-beating heart of Davy Jones," Pintel hissed. Ragetti snickered and mimed taking out his own heart and holding it, still beating in his hand, up to Elizabeth's face. They were trying to scare her, and I scowled at them. Elizabeth gave the pair a double look, recognising them as the ones who had kidnapped her from her home in Port Royal the year before.

"And whoever possesses that chest," Jack continued, "possesses the power to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants, including saving brave William from his grim fate."

"You don't actually believe him, do you?" Norrington scoffed to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's eyes darted from one man to the other. Jack gave her a look that was powerful enough to sway Elizabeth to his side. I have no idea how he did it, but it was a talent. Jack became irresistible.

"How would we find it?" Elizabeth asked, considering.

Norrington shook his head. Jack paused for dramatic effect and showed Elizabeth his compass. "With this. My compass…" he opened and closed it quickly, "… is unique."

"'Unique' here having the meaning of 'broken,'" Norrington interjected. He was going by what he remembered about Jack's seemingly unimpressive effects from the time he and the pirate first met. Jack gave Norrington a glare, and the ex-commodore went off to throw up again.

Jack continued explaining to Elizabeth about the compass. "True enough, this compass does not point north."

"Where does it point?" she asked.

Jack made direct eye contact with her. "It points to the thing you want most in this world," he said slowly and deliberately.

Elizabeth shook her head slightly, with an unsure smile. She was suspecting Captain Sparrow was up to his old tricks again. In truth, she was right to be weary. "Oh, Jack," she breathed in a slightly disappointed tone. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Every word, love," Jack assured her. He took her hands and placed his compass securely in her grasp. "And what you want most in this world is to find the chest of Davy Jones, is it not?"

"To save Will," Elizabeth insisted, making sure Jack's goal and her goal still had some sort of match.

"By finding the chest of Davy Jones," Jack repeated, wishing Elizabeth would stay on the track he had pushed her towards. He pulled a face and took a deep breath, fearing for a moment that it may not work, then he pulled open the lid and scuttled backwards.

Elizabeth stared at the spinning compass needle. I bit my lip, and then smiled as her face changed to show the arrow had finally settled, pointing steadily in one direction. "I think it's worked, Jack," I announced.

Jack crept up from underneath and peered at the compass, not daring to touch it least he somehow cause it to spin out of control again. When he saw that the needle was still, he could scarcely believe it.

"Mr. Gibbs!" Jack called.

Gibbs lumbered down from the _Pearl_ to the dock. "Cap'n."

"We have our heading," Jack told him, still bent down to the level of the compass.

"_Finally_!" Gibbs declared. He called to the rest of the crew on the ship. "Cast off those lines. Weigh anchor and crowd that canvas!"

As Gibbs continued to shout orders at the crew, Jack straightened up and gestured to his ship, inviting Elizabeth aboard. "Miss Swann."

She gave the ship a look, determined not to be afraid and to achieve what she set out to do. She slowly walked aboard, with Jack and me following. I felt a bit of admiration her just then. Elizabeth was a brave woman. Behind us, I saw Pintel shove a goat into Norrington's arms and welcome the former Commodore to the crew, and I had to laugh.


	11. Persuade Me

We were about a day out from Tortuga, sailing under the hot Caribbean sun. Captain Jack had put most of his new crew, including Norrington, to work swabbing the decks. Jack, Gibbs and Elizabeth were having a meeting on deck. Elizabeth had let her hair down and it was blowing in the faint breeze; it was actually quite a nice look for her. I leaned back against the port side railing beside my assignment, keeping an eye on Norrington with a slight frown on my face.

Elizabeth had just told Sparrow and Gibbs about the Letters of Marque and the deal Will had made with Cutler Beckett, as well as the East India Trading Company to get Jack's compass in return for his and Elizabeth's freedom. Just the mention of that name was enough to raise the heckles on the pirates; apparently they weren't too fond of the aforementioned man.

"Beckett?" Gibbs asked, his voice almost a low, feral growl.

"Yes, they're signed," Elizabeth explained, regarding the Letters of Marque, which were now in Jack's hands. "By Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company." I saw Norrington also look up at the name. I glared at him briefly, though it wasn't like he could actually see me, then looked back at Jack. It was difficult to like to Norrington because of what he was soon to do… but at the same time, it was hard not to pity him, as far as he'd fallen in this world.

Jack made a face like he had just tasted something awful. "Blahhh." He was skim reading the letter a moment later, his brow furrowed and his lips just barely moving, as he followed the words.

"Will was working for Beckett and never said a word," Gibbs reflected, sounding disturbed.

Jack groaned again. It may have just been the name 'Beckett' that he didn't like, and that was understandable considering the history the two men had. I noticed Jack put a hand to where his 'P' brand was on his right arm; the mark that Beckett had left on him all those years ago. I suspected Jack also wasn't too happy thinking of Will working for Beckett. That could make life even more tricky for Jack than it already was.

"Beckett wants the compass. Only one reason for that," Gibbs said, his voice betraying a sudden realization.

Jack was on the same page. "Of course." He looked at Elizabeth and Gibbs. "He wants the chest."

"And therefore control over all the oceans," I added.

"Yes, he did say something about a chest," Elizabeth remembered, nodding her head in agreement.

"If the company controls the chest they controls the sea," Gibbs summed up for Elizabeth's behalf. He didn't sound happy at all. I couldn't blame him.

My eyes gave a little roll. "That's what I just said."

"A truly discomforting notion, love," Jack told Elizabeth.

"And _bad_," Gibbs asserted. "Bad for every mother's son what calls himself pirate."

I gritted my teeth. I knew that the golden age of piracy had to end eventually, but at the same time I had more than a little invested interest in these people. Though the war would eventually be lost, I decided then and there to help them fight against it for as long as I could.

Gibbs looked up to the _Pearl's _trademark black sails. "I think there's a bit more speed to be coaxed from these sails," he growled, and headed off to see to it that that extra speed was produced. "Brace the foreyard!" he shouted to a random crew member, who made haste in following the order.

Jack ignored him. He seemed to only have eyes for Elizabeth now - the girl he didn't _want_ to want. I wasn't sure he really did want her or not. The compass was noting nothing to help our confusion with this issue. I sighed quietly to myself as I watched Jack and Elizabeth together. This was going to be interesting.

Jack held up the Letters of Marque between him and Elizabeth. "Might I enquire as to how you came by these?"

Even though Jack was pressing into Elizabeth's personal space, she fought to hold her ground and gave Jack a hard look. "Persuasion."

"Friendly?"

"Decidedly not."

I had a soft snort of laughter. A pistol to the head was definitely not considered 'friendly.' There was also a hint of warning in Elizabeth's voice; she was obviously a lot tougher now than she was before, and she wanted Jack to know it.

"Will strikes the deal for these and upholds it with honour, yet _you_ are the one standing here with the prize," Jack said. He began to read from the letter in an mockingly pompous tone of voice. "Full pardon. 'Commission as a privateer on behalf of England and the East India Trading Company.'"

I saw Norrington's eyes snap up as he listened to Jack. Already a plan was forming in his head to get a hold of that letter. Well, I had to admit he had a very good reason to want it - anything that would help him to get his old life back was bound to be of interest to the former Commodore, after all.

Jack scoffed and turned away, placing the letters into an inside breast pocket of his coat. "Like I could be bought for such a low price."

I smiled, thinking about how Will was right about Jack not wanting to go back to working for the company. All he really wanted was freedom; it wasn't a farce, or a strong front he put up for the sake of appearing the part of a proper pirate… he really did want freedom, and wasn't willing to risk that for anything. I gave Jack a wink, which he either ignored, or just didn't see.

"Jack, the letters - give them back," Elizabeth demanded, narrowing her eyes.

"No," Jack stoutly told her over his shoulder. Then he paused to think about just how close she was standing to him, and he reconsidered. He decided to play a game, just to see how far he could push her. "Persuade me," he challenged, a grin spreading across his lips. He stood still and waited and, not to my surprise, Elizabeth rose to the challenge with a threat. She took a step forward so her chin was almost resting on Jack's shoulder.

"You do know that Will taught me to handle a sword?"

I smirked. "It's the only way they've been able to make their relationship physical so far, probably," I muttered under my breath.

Seeming to fight the urge to chuckle at my words, Jack smiled and turned around. He wasn't impressed - yet. He looked into Elizabeth's eyes and lowered his voice. "As I said, _persuade_ me."

I raised an eyebrow. "Physical persuasion. Nice."

Elizabeth suddenly became visibly uncomfortable, as if she were fighting an internal battle; she suddenly found she couldn't meet Jack's dark eyes anymore and she retreated to the starboard side of the deck. Jack watched her go with a slight lustful gleam in his eye. Then he made a choking sound in his throat, as if to tell himself to snap out of it.

I slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Better luck next time, eh?" I said with a grin, though I had very little humour behind it.

Jack looked at me and smiled tightly. Then he started towards the helm. I followed him, casting a glance over to Elizabeth. Norrington had joined her, leaning against the rail, and the two of them were conversing lightly with one another. I couldn't hear them clearly, but I knew what they were saying; Norrington was spouting his opinion that Elizabeth had a crush on Jack, though she denied it, claiming that she trusted him and that was all. Norrington only scoffed and asked her how her "latest fiancé ended up on the _Flying Dutchman _in the first place," thus sowing the seeds of doubt in Elizabeth's mind.

While Jack scanned the horizon with a telescope, I continued to watch as Elizabeth took out the compass he had given her and opened it up. I had no hope of seeing the needle, but from the look on Elizabeth's face I knew that it had pointed right to Jack. She seemed more than a little disturbed by this.

All of a sudden, I received a sudden mental flash that almost knocked me off my feet. I put my hand to my head and blinked my eyes, but soon I had to close them. What I saw gave me terrible chills. I could see Will on a trading ship. He was perched high up on top of a sail mast, the only place where he was safe from the giant tentacles that were attacking the ship. The Kraken. My mind was being witness to Davy Jones' revenge attack on Will. I fought against the images, but doing so gave me a strong headache.

The crew of the trading ship was bravely, and vainly, trying to fight back. It was the kind of chaos that only can be found with complete and utter panic. One tentacle broke the mast that supported the sail Will was on, causing him to fall with only his father's knife slitting down another sail to slow his descent. Will caught himself on some ropes, once again almost falling to his death. A tentacle wound its way up the other mast and Will slashed at its tip with a sword. Suddenly, two huge, thick arms of the Kraken rose up over the deck; when these arms fell, they crushed the ship into two parts, with the mouth of the beast ready to snatch up and swallow anyone and everyone who fell through into its gaping, toothy maw.

My expression of shock and horror match the one I 'saw' on Will's face. He only survived by falling into the sea, forgotten by the Kraken as it enjoyed its meal. I also knew that any other survivors were going to be caught and killed by Jones' crew…

I swiftly snapped back to the here and now, as I knew it to be. It took me a moment, but eventually I realised I had fallen and was now sitting on the deck, near the helm. There was a thin sheet of sweat on my brow, my mouth was agape and my eyes were wide with panic. I realised Jack was looking at me with a concerned expression… well, maybe concern; it might have been apprehension. The only other person around was Cotton, who was steering the ship.

Jack looked at Cotton. "Take a break," he told him. The parrot on the old man's shoulder squawked and he left. Now that we were more or less alone, Jack moved behind the helm to disguise his hand resting on my shoulder.

"Calypso, what happened?" he asked, muttering, so only I could hear.

"I… I just received a vision," I said, trying to steady my voice. "Of the Kraken attacking a ship." I swallowed hard.

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." I forced myself to my feet, using Jack's hand to help me up. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It was just unexpected and really… _really_ bad." It was an understatement, I know, but I still got the point across.

"I can imagine," Jack said. "Something one would prefer to _avoid_, I wager."

I nodded. "Yes. Definitely." I took a few more deep breaths to clear my head and looked out across the sea to distract myself. "How much longer till we get to Isla Cruces, do you think?"

"That where Jones buried the chest?" Jack asked.

"Yes, that's the name of the island," I told him. "We need to get there before the _Dutchman_ does."

"Davy Jones is on his way there?"

"Yeah, and he's figured out that that's where you're going."

"Mmm. Well, to tell you the semi-honest truth, I don't know how long it will take to get us there," Jack confessed. "But it can't be more than a day or two. Can I trust that you'll have some influence to make sure that we _do_ get there before 'ol fish face?" he asked hopefully.

I smiled, and found that was already feeling a bit better. "Sure. I'll do what I can."

I sighed to myself and enjoyed the feeling of the wind. "Isla Cruces is barren of people now. Wiped out by a plague, I think," I mused. Jack's mouth twitched. I looked at him. "Don't worry. There's no plague there _now_. Just a lot of sand, a lot of coconut trees, and the ruins of an old church and graveyard."

"And the chest."

My smile grew slightly. "Yes, and the chest," I confirmed.

"That's all I want," Jack said with a sigh. "Get the chest, or at least the heart, and I get me a bit of leverage."

I chuckled slightly. "Leverage. Most important thing in the world to you, is it?"

"That and the _Pearl_."

I nodded, knowing what the _Black Pearl_ represented to Jack. "Freedom."

"And rum," Jack added.

I laughed out loud for real this time. "Aye, that too." Jack and I shared a smile. "One of these days I'll have to try some."

"Aye!" Jack agreed, sounding somewhat enthusiastic about it; his eyes seemed to light up right in front of me, and I almost laughed. "Before you leave me again I want to see your lips around a bottle!"

"Ha. You know the rules, Jack. You leave my lips out of the picture."

Jack just grinned, his gold teeth catching the sunlight. "Doesn't mean I can't still think it."

I shook my head and let him think what he wanted. So long as he didn't try to act any of these thoughts out on me, I didn't mind so much. I knew he also had thoughts about Elizabeth, and that Elizabeth had thoughts about him, though neither really knew if they were actual sentiments that needed to be acted upon. It was when they decided to _do_ something about those thoughts and temptations that things were going to get very… _interesting_ between them.


	12. Curiosity

Time passed, as it always does. How _much_ time passed didn't matter. All that did matter was we were still on the way to Isla Cruces. I also had a gut feeling that Davy Jones' three day deadline was going to end today… meaning that our time was quickly running out.

Jack and I were milling about the deck, checking this and that. Jack had a bottle of rum snug in one hand. I glanced over towards the helm and saw someone lounging on the stairs; Elizabeth. I also knew pretty much what she was thinking about: she was missing her fiancé, Will.

I knew what would happen if I directed Jack over there, and I wasn't entirely happy about that. I also knew, however, that Jack was probably going to go over to her anyway. There was nothing I could do about it, I just had to go with the flow.

"Hmmm… Elizabeth looks a little blue," I commented.

Jack frowned and looked over at her. "I think she needs a bit of cheering up, then," he declared brightly. He sauntered across the deck to the stairs and stretched out on his side beside Elizabeth. I stood at the base of the stairs and crossed my arms over my chest, watching apprehensively.

"My tremendous sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled," he said to Elizabeth, his words practically rolling off the tip of his tongue. I rolled my eyes.

Elizabeth sighed. "I just thought I'd be married by now. I'm so ready to be _married.._."

Jack made a face and realised what this, in part, meant. I also understood what she meant, though I suspected Jack Sparrow was probably not the best person to share this information with. He was bound to try to twist it to his advantage.

Jack raised an eyebrow and looked down to the bottle of rum he had placed on a step between them. He offered it up to her. She took it and drank a bit.

"You know…" Jack began in a very suggestive tone of voice. He cleared his throat and leaned in closer to her, ignoring her uninterested expression. "Lizzie, I _am_ the captain of a ship…" He gestured in my general direction, though Elizabeth wouldn't be able to see me, so it would seem he was taking in the rigging and sails. "… and as the captain of a ship, I could in fact perform a 'marr-i-age' right here. Right on this deck. Right… now."

Jack had made his intentions very clear. If he had come onto me like that, I would have slapped him. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Jack, you have a _lot_ to learn."

Elizabeth was just as unimpressed as me, especially as Jack's bad breath seemed to turn her right off. She shoved the bottle of rum back into his hands and heaved herself up. "No, thank you." She almost walked through me, but I stepped aside just in time. Jack got up and followed her.

"Why not?" he asked, grinning as he leaned on some taut ropes. "We are very much a like, you and I, I and you…us."

Elizabeth had her back to Jack, but it was obvious she seemed very disturbed by the concept of herself and Jack being a couple. This was made even worse by the fact that deep down, even though she loved Will, some part of her did still want Jack…or at least she thought that the possibility of such could have been true. Biting her lip, she clutched at the rail of the ship.

"Oh, except for a sense of honour and decency and a moral centre." She looked at Jack over her shoulder, frowning. "And personal hygiene."

Jack lifted the arm that held the rum bottle so that he could smell his armpit. He shrugged. I rolled my eyes again. "Trifles," Jack decided. He moved closer to Elizabeth, looking confident. He seemed very sure that she had an attraction to him. He didn't need _me_ to tell him that. Jack was usually very good at pinpointing what other people wanted. He grabbed onto another rope and pulled himself closer to her. "You _will_ come over to my side, I know it."

"You seem very certain," Elizabeth observed.

"One word, love: curiosity. You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act of selfish impulse." In other words, to be a pirate. To be like him. "You want to see what it's _like_," Jack continued, his voice low and actually more seductive than it had been when he was on the stairs. He casually let so of the rope. "One day, you won't be able to resist," he promised Elizabeth.

Elizabeth threw him a curve ball. She asked him a question he wasn't expecting. "Why doesn't your compass work?"

Jack's self-confidant smile dropped and he seemed very offended. "My compass works fine," he said. I bit my tongue as I spotted the double entente, be it intentional or not. It didn't help the position he was standing when compared to the long canon moored on the deck in front of him.

"Because you and I _are_ alike," Elizabeth said. This time, the ball was in her court. "And there will be a moment when you have a chance to show it. To do the right thing."

I couldn't help but be impressed by Elizabeth's prediction. They both seemed to be telling the future in this scene, even if Jack was not ready to admit he was that good a man.

"I love those moments," Jack said dismissively. He strolled around the canon and gestured into the air with his hand. "I like to wave at them as they pass by!"

Elizabeth wasn't finished with him yet. She approached him with the same confidence he had approached her. "You _will_ have the chance to do something… something courageous." They leaned on the railing and Elizabeth drummed her hands against it. "And when you do, you'll discover something."

Jack gave her an "oh yeah? What?" look.

"That you're a good man," Elizabeth stated, before he could ask what the 'something' was.

Jack smirked and looked out at the water. "All evidence to the contrary."

Elizabeth smiled, as if she was expecting him to say something like that. "Oh, I have faith in you." She turned towards him, her demeanour slightly playful. "Want to know why?"

Jack didn't look at her, probably because he didn't believe her in the slightest. "Do tell, dearie."

Elizabeth slid up closer to him, so that she was almost in front of him. She looked up into his face. "Curiosity," she said, throwing his argument back at him. "You're going to want it." Jack's eyes shifted as he realised just how close Elizabeth was. Her tone of voice had changed into something more seductive, and it was working. "A chance to be admired and gain the rewards that follow. You won't be able to resist."

Jack and Elizabeth's mouths were slowly getting closer and closer together. They had a chance of kissing right then and there, and my frown deepened to see it. "You're going to want to know what it tastes like," Elizabeth prodded.

"I do want to know what it tastes like," Jack confessed. He turned himself away from the railing so that he and Elizabeth were facing each other properly. Jack's back was towards me; a good thing, because if looks could kill…

"But… seeing as you're a good man, I know that you'd never put me in a position that might compromise my honour," Elizabeth said, even as Jack raised his left hand and stroked her cheek. There was the challenge she set, then. Would Jack be able to resist temptation?

The two of them were nose-to-nose. Jack opened his mouth to kiss her, when suddenly he spotted his left palm. I looked over his shoulder and saw what he saw; an ugly dark circle bubble up on his skin. The Black Spot had returned. The Kraken was on the hunt for him again.

Jack looked at his hand in horror and balled it into a fist. Quickly, he pulled away from Elizabeth and she misinterpreted his reason for backing off. "I'm proud of you, Jack," she told him appreciatively.

Jack might have said something, but he was cut off by a shout from Gibbs. "Land ho!"

Elizabeth walked off and joined the rest of the crew over at the opposite railing, where the land had been spotted. Jack winced.

"It's Isla Cruces," I told Jack. I didn't even have to look at it to know. I noticed that my arms were still crossed and my hands were fisted. I forced myself to relax. It wasn't my job to judge my assignments' romantic yearnings, after all.

"I want my jar of dirt," Jack said, sounding nervous.

"Yeah, good idea. Bring it along," I said as I followed him to his cabin where he had stored it. Jack snatched his coat and the jar of dirt from his cluttered desk. "You'll also need to bring along Elizabeth, because she has the compass," I advised. "And I know you won't want to dig for the chest yourself and you're not going to make a lady do it, so you should bring someone to do that… oh, and two people to row the long boat. I'd pick people you don't think you're going to miss if you lose them."

Jack and I marched out of his cabin with that plan firmly in mind. "Lower anchor!" the captain commanded, wrapping a strip of cloth around his palm to hide the Black Spot once again. "Elizabeth, you will have to come with me," he told her with a grin. "You do have the compass, after all." He looked at Norrington, who was standing near Elizabeth. "You come too. Get the shovels. And you two," he pointed to Pintel and Ragetti, "row the boat."

The crew rushed about to follow the orders, though Norrington looked less than pleased to be forced into manual labour by Jack Sparrow. Jack told Gibbs to stay in charge until he got back. Then the six of us climbed into the long boat and started off towards the sandy island.

Jack sat up at the front, with Pintel and Ragetti sitting behind him with their backs to him. Norrington and Elizabeth sat at the back. I settled down next to Jack on the edge of the longboat. My extra weight was like a feather and a strong grip made sure I didn't fall into the drink. I could have flown, but I predicted I would have to do quite a bit of flying in a little while, so I decided at save my energy.

It would have been nice if the trip to the island was a little more peaceful, but instead we had to put up with the bickering on Pintel and Ragetti.

"You're pulling too fast," Pintel scolded his friend.

"You're pulling too _slow_," Ragetti argued. "Don't want the Kraken to catch us!"

Jack Sparrow jumped slightly at the word 'Kraken.' We were still only about halfway there. I put a hand on Jack's shoulder to assure him it was okay.

"I'm saving me strength for when it comes," Pintel explained testily. "And I don't think it's 'Kraken' anyways. I've always heard it said 'Krayken.'"

"With a long 'a'?"

"Uh-huh."

Ragetti shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 'Krocken' is how it's pronounced in the original Scandinavian, and 'Kracken's closer to that."

"We ain't original Scandinavians, are we? 'Krayken.'" Pintel insisted.

"It's a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants," Ragetti argued.

"Would you two shut up?" Norrington snapped.

The two pirates gave him the stink-eye. "You can't order us around, _Commodore_," Pintel jeered.

Jack, who was uncomfortable with all their talk about the Kraken, (no matter how it was pronounced,) turned and poked them in the shoulder. "No, but _I_ can. Shut up."

They grumbled a bit, but did as they were told.

When we finally reached the sandy shore, Jack took off his jacket and tossed it into the boat along with the jar of dirt. He was going to need neither item while we were wondering around the island. He picked up a shovel and slung it over his shoulder as Norrington grabbed another.

"Guard the boat, mind the tide," Jack ordered Pintel and Ragetti. After a pause he added "don't touch my dirt."

Then the rest of us started our long trip down the beach.


	13. Isla Cruces

Jack, Elizabeth, Norrington and I seemed to hike for hours. The others left long lines of footprints behind them. To avoid leaving any footprints of my own, I opted to drift just above the sand, though I used up just as much energy doing so than if I had walked. Jack and I pulled ahead of Elizabeth and Norrington, though not so far ahead that we couldn't hear Elizabeth as she shouted out directions, according to the compass.

A question was nagging at the back of my mind, and I decided to take the opportunity to ask it. "Hey Jack, mind if I ask you something?"

"No Cal, not at all." He grinned, as though he knew the nickname would annoy me.

"Don't call me 'Cal,'" I said automatically, my eyes narrowing slightly. "I was just wondering if you think you'll ever get married, like Will and Elizabeth have planned."

Jack smirked. "I love marriage, it's like a wager on who will fall out of love first," he muttered airily.

I laughed. "Is that a 'no'?"

"Yes, that's a 'no,'" Jack said. "I don't particularly think there's a girl out there who can hold old Jack Sparrow's heart captive," he chuckled.

I poked him in the shoulder. "Not even a certain lady who has recently found herself onboard the _Black Pearl_?"

Jack grinned at me. "Why Calypso, I never knew you thought of me that way!"

"No! Not me!" I scowled and pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. "Her."

Jack gave me a look. "She's on my 'to do' list."

I rolled my eyes. "Jack…" I reprimanded, resisting the urge to gag.

"Well, given the opportune moment…" Jack shrugged.

"Do you know what Will would _do_ to you if he found out? He is, like, _the _best swordsman around here."

Jack shrugged. "He's the least of my worries."

"Hmmm… sure," I muttered.

Eventually, we headed more inland and into the sand dunes above the high tide mark. Jack gave Norrington his shovel and climbed to the top of one of the dunes while Elizabeth walked down a valley between that dune and another. She held the open compass in one hand and followed the arrow, thinking hard about the chest.

"It's very close," I told Jack as I landed in the dry sand. I didn't have to worry so much about my footprints up there. "Like, right around here somewhere."

Elizabeth walked to a certain point, then stopped, turned, and went the other way as the arrow changed direction. Then she did it again, so she walked in a rough triangle. Norrington and I watched as she stopped a third time and looked at Jack. Jack was looking out across the island and didn't notice her looking at him. I bit my lip as I realised that the compass must have pointed to Jack again, or at least in his general direction.

Jack finally noticed Elizabeth looking at him. She quickly looked back at the compass and shook it. "This doesn't work," she announced, shaking her head. Then she gave up and flopped down to the sand, most likely because her feet were sore from walking. "And it _certainly_ doesn't point to what you want most." She plopped the compass onto the sand in front of her with a defeated sigh.

Norrington wore a smirk that mocked Jack's faith in his 'broken' compass. Jack trotted down to Elizabeth. He put his hands on his knees and peered down at the compass. I followed suit and we both saw the needle spin back and fourth a few times, then stop directly at Elizabeth. "Yes, it does," Jack said. "You're sitting on it."

Elizabeth looked up at him, slightly confused. "Beg pardon?"

"Move." Jack shooed her away with his hands, as though she was nothing but an annoying little housefly. As she did so, Jack whistled to Norrington and pointed at the spot where Elizabeth had been sitting, indicating that he should start to dig. Then Jack scooped up his compass, brushed the sand off of it, and secured it to one of his belts once again.

Norrington gave Jack a dark look and planted one of the spades in the sand. Then he trudged over to the spot and started to dig with the other spade.

Elizabeth stood off to one side to wait and watch while Jack and I sat down on our sand dune. Bored, I ran my hands through the sand, focusing on the feeling of it running through my fingers, pausing every now and then to pick out the grains that got wedged under my fingernails. Beside me, Jack crossed him legs and seemed to enter a state of meditation. I smiled to myself as a slightly evil plan came to mind. I started to hum a well-known tune and soon escalated into the lyrics.

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me," I sang under my breath. Jack cracked one kohl-covered lid open and gave me a slight smirk. I grinned.

"You're gonna have it stuck in your head now," I teased. "But if you sing it out loud, Norrington's going to hit you with the shovel, I bet."

Jack made an exaggerated show of stretching to disguise the act of hitting me in the arm to Norrington and Elizabeth. I was knocked slightly off balance and fell onto my side.

"Ow!" I yelped, half-laughing and half-complaining. "I'm gonna bruise now!"

Jack cracked his knuckles with a small self-satisfied smile, his eyes still closed.

I sat up and brushed the sand off as Jack returned to his meditative state. I knew I should let him rest in preparation for his exertions ahead, but I still felt the urge to do something else to Jack, perhaps belt out the song at the top of my lungs, when I was stopped by a sudden sensation. It felt like cold water had washed down my back and I shivered, despite the warm temperatures on the beach. I realised that Davy Jones was near, as well as Will Turner, who stowed away on _The_ _Flying Dutchman _with the key to the chest. I knew the ship was going to submerge after Jones spotted Pintel and Ragetti on the beach and that the Dutchman's crew were soon to be coming on shore to retrieve the chest.

I looked at Norrington and tried to judge his progress. He was quite far along; the piles of sand next to the good-sized hole he was working on was evidence of this. However, it was hard to tell just how close he was to the chest. I decided to help him along, just to be sure they got to the chest in time. I closed my eyes and focused on it. Putting a good amount of effort behind my powers, I clasped my hands together and pictured the spade hitting the chest. About two seconds later, my efforts were rewarded by the sound of metal on wood. I grinned.

Jack opened his eyes, suddenly extremely alert. He and I got to our feet as Elizabeth walked over to the hole. Norrington pulled the spade out and tossed it aside. The four of us peered down excitedly. We all helped to brush sand off of the lid of the chest and heaved it out of the hole. Jack got up, grabbed one of the shovels and used it to break the rusty lock on the chest. He removed the broken lock and opened the lid with a creak.

Inside, the chest was filled with bundles of old letters and other papers tied together. There was even a withered bouquet. It gave off a strong sense of old, sad love. The type of love that is overpowering, even after it's lost. No wonder Davy Jones couldn't handle it. Not for the first time, I wondered who that woman was that Jones fell in love with, and if she knew just how much it had hurt him.

I noticed Norrington look at the letters, which I assumed to be love letters, a little sadly. He too was a man who had lost the woman he loved, only she was right there with us still.

He and Elizabeth dropped to their knees on either side of Jack beside the chest. Elizabeth took out one of the letters and began to read it as Jack hunted through the rest of them. Just underneath the layer of paper was a smaller black chest that was interracially decorated, a true work of art. Even so, I felt a slight shiver go up my spine. Sometimes beautiful objects can hide dangerous and powerful things, and this was one such case.

Jack lifted up the smaller chest and rested it on the rim of the larger one. I bit my lip slightly.

"That's it. That's the chest with Davy Jones' heart," I said softly.

The same thought was going through the others' heads. All together, we held our breath, leaned in and pressed our ears to the chest. Sure enough, a sound was heard coming from within.

_Lub-dub…lub-dub…_

Elizabeth pulled back, surprised. "It's real," she said, amazed.

Norrington was also amazed, and not just by the heart. He looked at Jack with a slight smile. "You actually _were_ telling the truth."

"I do that quite a lot, yet people are always surprised," Jack said simply.

I smirked. "Maybe if you didn't elaborate on the truth so much, more people would believe you, Jack."

"With good reason!" a familiar voice shouted.

The four of us looked up and saw a wet and slightly breathless William Turner standing there before us. Elizabeth's eyes went wide.

"Will!" she gasped, getting to her feet. She ran up to him and they embraced as Norrington, Jack and I also stood up. "You're all right! Thank God! I came to find you!" Elizabeth gushed to her fiancé. The two of them kissed deeply, much to the discomfort of Norrington.

Jack looked at me, extremely confused and suspicious. He had one major question going through his mind, and I wasn't going to answer it. I just shrugged at him.

Jack addressed his question to Will. "How did you get here?"

"Sea turtles, mate," Will answered. I smiled in amusement. "A pair of them strapped to my feet."

Jack smirked at the inside joke. "Not so easy, is it?"

"But I do owe you thanks, Jack," Will said.

Jack frowned. "You do?"

"After you tricked me onto that ship to square your debt with Jones…"

"What?" Elizabeth demanded angrily of Jack.

"What?" Jack squeaked, afraid of where this conversation was going.

"… I was reunited with my father," Will continued.

"Oh, well… you're welcome, then," Jack said. He had the vain hope that all was forgiven now, but I wasn't going to count on it.

Elizabeth parted from Will's arms and stormed up to Jack, outraged. "Everything you said to me, every word was a lie!" she spat, going red in the face. Jack hesitated for only a small moment, pretending to think her question over before he nodded.

"Pretty much," Jack admitted. I shook my head with a "tsk!" Jack shrugged at Elizabeth. "Time and tide, love."

We heard the sound of a short blade unsheathing. We looked to the chest and saw Will drop to his knees in front of it. He was holding the knife I knew he had gotten from Bootstrap in one hand and the key to the chest in the other.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Jack demanded sharply.

Will rotated the chest so the lock was facing him as he got ready to unlock it. "I'm going to kill Jones," he replied.

Jack unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Will. "Can't let you do that, William," he said simply. His tone held a warning twinge to it. Will looked at Jack's blade before raising his gaze up to the pirate himself. "'Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Jack rationalized.

Every muscle in my body had gone taut when Jack pulled his sword out. I knew the fur was going to fly any minute, and I had to be ready. There was a long silence before Will slowly got to his feet and put the knife back in his belt.

"Now, if you please," Jack said, holding his hand out to Will. "The key."

Will took a slight side step that brought him just close enough to Elizabeth so that he could grab her sword. The blade was out before anyone could stop him. Elizabeth jumped behind Will as he pointed the sword at Sparrow. "I keep the promises I make, Jack," Will said, the same amount of deadly seriousness in his voice. "I intend to free my father. I hope you're here to see it."

The sound of a third blade unsheathing rang in the air. This time it came from Norrington as he pointed his deadly blade at Will. "I can't let you do that either. So sorry."

"Funny, you don't _sound_ sorry," I muttered.

Jack grinned at Norrington and let his blade drop slightly. "I knew you'd warm up to me eventually."

Jack tried to take a step towards Norrington, but stopped short as the ex-commodore suddenly pointed his sword at Jack. At the same time, Will's sword changed directions to point at Norrington. Jack looked from one man to the other and pointed his sword once again at Will, completing the triangle, though his movement seemed like more of a hesitant afterthought, if anything.

"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest," Norrington reminded us. "I deliver it, I get my life back."

"Ah, the dark side of ambition," Jack observed.

"Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of _redemption_," Norrington said.

Three equally stubborn men, all desperate to get the same thing for his own perfectly good reason, and all of them armed with very sharp swords. Though their skills with these swords varied, each man was still good enough not to consider backing down. I swallowed. This was not a good situation, though I had to admit it was a very exciting one.

You could have cut the tension in the air, and it wasn't too much longer before Norrington did just that. He swiped at Will, who blocked the blow. Then the three men were off and engaged in a three-way sword fight that wouldn't soon be forgotten.


	14. Motivations

AN/ I know I promised that I was going to finish this fic before PotC 3 came out, but life got in the way. Oh well. Here's the next chapter anyway.

* * *

I barely had enough time to think 'here we go again!' before I was forced up into the air so I could follow the action from a safe distance. Jack, Norrington, and Will all swung their swords at each other, and each one managed to duck or dodge the blades in turn. Will tried to run off and Jack and Norrington gave chase. Elizabeth screamed at them to stop it, but not any of the men did, to her frustration. Adrenaline had kicked in, and _none_ of them were going to stop until the other two were gone.

Jack and Norrington caught up with Will. While Turner was distracted by Norrington, Jack grabbed the key from his hand and dashed away. Norrington managed to kick Will to the ground and sprinted after him. I kept pace with my assignment from the air, and saw Elizabeth rush to Will's side. "Will!"

"Guard the chest!" he told her before getting to his feet so he could continue his fight. Elizabeth's face betrayed her shock for a moment, before she scowled, and took on a tone that suggested she didn't agree with his order.

"_No!_" Elizabeth protested loudly. I smirked to myself, trying to keep one eye on Jack, who was now running backwards as he fought with Norrington, and one eye on the irate woman who was screaming at all of them. "This is _barbaric_! This is no way for grown men to… Oh fine! Let's just haul out our swords and start _banging_ away at each other! That will solve _everything_! I've had it!"

By now, Will had re-joined the fight that was steadily making its way down the beach. Elizabeth continued to rant and rave as Ragetti, followed shortly by a jogging and out of breath Pintel, came upon the scene.

"I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum-soaked _pirates_!" Elizabeth hollered. She started picking up stones from the beach and hurling them in the direction of the fighting men. They were much too far away from her though; they ignored her shouts and her stones never came close to hitting them. I kept my body hovering over the three-way battle while my mind eavesdropped on Pintel, Ragetti and Elizabeth.

"How'd this go all screwy?" Pintel asked his friend, referring to the sight of Jack, Will, and Norrington all clashing swords in the distance.

Ragetti had everything figured out. "Well, each wants the chest for hisself, don't he?" he explained. "Mr. Norrington, I think, is trying to regain a bit of honour, old Jack's looking to trade it, save his own skin, then Turner, there, I think he's trying to settle some unresolved business 'twixt him and his twice-cursed pirate father." Ragetti crossed his arms and gave a small self-satisfied belch.

"Sad," Pintel commented.

Elizabeth hadn't noticed the two scallywags. Her focus was still on shouting and throwing rocks at Jack, Will, and Norrington - not that it was doing them or her any good. I think it was just to release some of her own frustrations.

"This is madness!" she screamed. I had to agree with her there. It _was _madness, but unsurprising madness when you considered the characters who were involved.

Pintel squinted towards Davy Jones' chest, which was lying unprotected on the sand. "That chest must be worth more than a shiny penny."

Ragetti clicked his tongue, agreeing with his buddy. "Terrible temptation."

"If we was any kind of decent, we'd remove temptation from their path," Pintel reasoned.

With an exchanged glance of a mischievous manner and a giggle, Pintel and Ragetti scuttled off to pinch the chest.

"_Enough!_" Elizabeth shouted, but this cry, like all the others, went unnoticed. She decided to switch tactics to one she knew had worked before. "Oh! _Oh_, the heat!" she shouted dramatically. She put a hand to her forehead and flopped onto the sand. It wasn't a very good fake faint, and unsurprisingly, it didn't work. She continued to be ignored. She opened an eye, hoping to see at least one of them come running to her aid. She was very disappointed when no one did. Elizabeth plonked her hat back on her head and sat up in a huff. It was only then she realized that Pintel and Ragetti had scampered off behind her holding the chest she was _supposed_ to be guarding between them. With a gasp, she leaped up and chased them.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my left knee. My mind crashed back with my body and I realised to my horror that I had accidentally drifted too close to the sword battle and one of the blades had caught my knee, slashing it open. I cried out in pain, cursing my stupidity for not paying better attention. There was no time for me to stop and nurse my wound, however; the boys were still running down the beach, swinging at each other, dodging and blocking blows the entire time. I wasn't even sure which blade had been the one to catch my knee in its path.

Jack was still in the lead. Norrington was closest to him and Will was running right behind. Running backwards to fight with Norrington, Jack stumbled. He and Norrington fell onto the sand with a grunt, giving Will the opportunity to grab the key from Jack's hand as he ran past. Jack rolled over and tried to slice at his ankles, but missed.

"Bugger!" Jack growled, scrambling up and giving chase.

The three-way sword fight reached the water's edge. The men fought in a circle, slashing and dodging. This time, I was careful to keep well clear of them. As Will and Norrington crossed swords, Jack ducked under them and managed to grab the key off Will again. Will swung his sword at him, but Norrington's attack prevented him from hitting Jack. He and I escaped down the beach, heading inland. Once again we were running for our lives.

"Head for the ruins!" I panted.

Behind us, Will tried to run after Jack, but Norrington shoved him to the ground and kicked sand in his face. "By your leave, Mr. Turner," Norrington said with a mock bow. Then the ex-commodore chased after Jack.

A tear ran down my cheek from the pain in my knee, but I couldn't stop. Adrenaline set in and it kept me going. I could sense that at least ten members of Davy Jones' crew had come on land to get the chest for their captain, though I felt no need to worry about them - yet.

Jack and I ran through a short stretch of foliage with Norrington close behind. We sprinted through an old, grassy grave yard to the massive stone shell of a ruined church. Jack and I went up the steps of what was left of the bell tower. Norrington was able to catch up and he and Jack crossed swords on the steps. Jack kicked him back into a wall. Norrington recovered quickly and dashed after Jack, tripping him up, but Jack was able to get to his feet in time to block Norrington's blow. Jack got pushed into a wall, then into the opposite wall. It was then that Norrington saw the key handing by its cord from Jack's wrist, and he grabbed it.

Below us, Will entered the bell tower and grabbed one of the ropes, while Jack slashed at Norrington, but missed. Overbalanced, he fell and was forced to grab onto another one of the ropes to save himself.

Jack's shout of frustration was drowned out by the clanging of the ancient bell. Will was jerked upwards off his feet. He passed Norrington and somehow was able to grab the key from him. Will alighted at the top of the tower and called down in a mocking expression:

"By _your_ leave, Mr. Norrington!"

Enraged, Norrington dashed up the stairs after him.

I realised that my heart was pounding in my chest. It seemed almost as loud as the bell. I knew that the bell was alerting Davy Jones' crew to our location. As Will and Norrington balanced precariously on the walls of the ruins of the church outside, I got Jack to safe ground.

"You gotta get the key! Go!" I urged him. We scaled the tower and poked our heads out a window. He looked one way and I looked the other; I spotted them and tapped Jack on the shoulder, pointing them out. Jack and I climbed out of the tower, and carefully, he walked across a stone parapet towards Will and Norrington, who were taking the fight down onto the roof of a small building that had once been a water mill, that ran right beside the belltower. There was a huge waterwheel attached to the side. I eyed it nervously as I drifted across with Jack.

"Norrington has the key now," I told him.

All three men were balanced on the roof of the mill. Norrington and Will were distracted by each other. Jack used this to his advantage, trying to grab the key from Norrington's hand as he reached it out behind him to balance himself. It took Jack several tries and a few near-misses, but at last he got it. Norrington turned his attention on him, and in an instant he and Will ganged up together, both of them slashing at Jack. Norrington managed to swipe Jack's sword out of his hand. He and Will pointed their swords at my assignment, equal looks of disdain upon their faces. Norrington looked at Will with a serious expression, as though daring him to protest against what he was going to say next.

"Do excuse me while I kill the man who ruined my life."

"Be my guest," Will said with a smile, slightly breathless from the fight.

Jack, however wasn't as defenceless as he seemed. He still had his words, and those words could be a mighty weapon indeed when he used them properly.

"Let us examine that claim for a moment, former Commodore, shall we?" Jack said. I couldn't help but smile as I hovered in the air beside him, even though the pain from my knee was becoming intense again. Jack spoke slowly and clearly, making sure that Norrington got the message. "Who was it, that at the very moment you had a notorious pirate safely behind, saw fit to _free_ said pirate and take your dearly beloved all to himself, eh?"

I could see the dread creeping onto Will Turner's face. Jack paused to let his words sink in before continuing.

"So whose fault is it, really, that you've ended up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?"

Norrington saw red at those insulting words. They hit him where it hurt - his pride. "Enough!" he shouted, swinging his sword at Jack. Jack gasped and launched himself off the roof, somersaulting, flipping, and landing on his backside, unharmed, beside his sword. I flew down beside him and tried to land, but my knee wouldn't allow it at that moment. I winced in pain and Jack gave me a concerned look, noticing my injury for the first time.

Will and Norrington looked down at Jack. "Unfortunately, Mr. Turner, he's _right_!" Norrington growled as he swung again at Will, who hastily blocked the blow.

"I'll be okay. We should try to get out of here while we still can," I told Jack.

Jack picked up his sword and stood up. "Still rooting for you, mate," he called to Norrington over his shoulder. He sheathed his sword and trotted away from the fighting men, myself flying behind him. Jack put the cord the held the key around his neck and allowed himself a confidant and victorious swagger.


	15. The Heart

I saw something right ahead, in the walking path of my assignment. "Jack, look out!"

My warning came too late, as Jack fell into an open grave with a grunt. "Oof!"

I looked down at him with a slight smile. I would have been very amused, but my knee was draining my humour away somewhat. He looked around, wondering what had happened. When he realised what it was, all he could say was, "Oh."

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Fine, fine," he said, dusting himself off and trying to climb out. Once again, the metaphor of my assignment literately rising from the grave did not go over my head.

Behind us, Will and Norrington's battle had moved onto the massive, eighteen foot diameter wheel. The ancient wood connecting the wheel to the building gave way under the extra weight of the fighting men and the wheel started to roll right towards Jack and me, with Will and Norrington running along the top, trying to keep their balance and fight at the same time.

Alarmed, but at the same time also slightly bemused, I moved out of the wheel's way. Jack poked his head out of the way and seemed to wonder what that rumbling noise was behind him. I wondered briefly if I should bother trying to warn my assignment. I shrugged and gave it a go.

"Jack! Behind you!"

Jack didn't even have time to look behind him as the wheel crashed over his head. The wood was so old, Jack's body went right through it. He got stuck, the wheel lifting him out of the hole as it rolled away. I watched Jack's legs kick the air and I followed the wheel as it made its way through the coconut tree forest.

Jack got turned upside down and watched helplessly as the cord with the key around his neck fell off. He couldn't grab for it, as his arms were pinned. Will and Norrington were forced to dodge Jack's legs as they ran along the top of the wheel. The key rolled along the bottom until the cord got snagged on a protruding nail. When Jack's legs hit the ground, he was able to jump through the hole into the wheel so he could run along inside it like a hamster. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation as I glided alongside them, weaving around trees.

Jack's moment of victory was extinguished as a metal bar rolled along with the inside of the wheel and hit him on the head, knocking him silly and causing him to fall to his right. He landed on the floor of the jungle amongst the ferns. I flew down to him.

"Jack? Jack!" I smacked his face lightly. "Come on, Jack." He slowly came to, blinking hard. "Come on!" I urged him again, pulling him to his feet. "You gotta catch up with that wheel and get that key!"

My words seemed to flip a switch in Jack and he bolted after the wheel as it crashed through the forest. I followed close behind.

Our path brought us past Elizabeth's confrontation with Pintel and Ragetti, who still had the chest. They had just realized that they only had two swords between the three of them, Will having taken Elizabeth's sword. They saw the giant wheel rolling along with Will and Norrington running at its top still engaged in a dramatic fight and Jack Sparrow running through the foliage after it, desperate to catch up. Pintel and Ragetti shrugged at each other and turned to Elizabeth again. I knew that those three were going to be dealing with Davy Jones' crew any minute now, as were the rest of us.

Sure enough, I could begin to hear the roars of the charging crew over the rumble of the rolling wheel. I bit my lip and urged myself onwards with Jack towards the wheel.

We managed to catch up with it, running alongside it until Jack saw an opening where he could leap inside. He ran along like a hamster once again, his focus of getting the key that was still snagged on a nail.

Above us, Will had ducked to avoid Norrington's sword and fell onto the wheel. He saw Jack inside reaching for the key, and climbed inside himself so as to be better able to grab it. Jack scowled and swiped at him with his sword, but Will managed to hold on and defend himself. Norrington also climbed inside the wheel to battle the others. The three men climbed all over the revolving wheel, trying to get at each other without falling out or being hit by a blade.

Keeping pace with the wheel, I managed not to collide with any trees, a feat I am very proud of myself for, considering my knee was still killing me. That sword strike to it must have gone right to the bone, though I didn't know for sure since I hadn't yet been able to actually examine it.

Through the pain, I grinned in victory when Jack managed to grab the key off of Will, breaking it free from the cord. Will looked at the cord in despair and swiped at Jack. Jack was able to escape and climb out of the wheel, and onto its top. Swaying his arms for balance, he rode the wheel for a second and grabbed at a dangling frond from a tree. The wheel continued to spin away down a hill with Will and Norrington still inside, the added speed of the revolutions making them too dizzy to fight. Jack, the frond and several coconuts hit the ground a moment later, Jack landing safely on his feet.

I drifted down to his side. "Good job," I congratulated him.

Jack smiled at me and sheathed his sword. He was about to say something when we spotted one of Davy Jones' crew running through the forest clutching the chest. This particular man had a conk shell around his head.

Jack eyed the coconuts on the ground with a thoughtful, "Hmmm…"

"Oh, go for it," I said with a grin. "You know you want to."

Jack picked up a coconut and spun it in his hand, testing the solid weight of the giant seed. Then he took aim and hurled it at the running crew member. Jack's aim was fantastic; the coconut spun through the air, hitting the crewmember right in the head and knocking it clean off his shoulders with a surprised cry. The cursed man didn't die, only suffered an extreme annoyance. His body dropped the chest.

I clapped my hands and Jack took a small bow before rushing over to the chest. The head of the man Jack hit was trying to call his body back to him, but without much success.

"Follow my voice! Follow my voice! To the left! No, turn around. Go to the right!" The body collided with a tree and I laughed. "No, that's a _tree_," the head said in despair.

Jack glared at him from his place at the chest. "Oh, shut it!"

I landed gingerly on the ground and took the chance to look at my injured knee. The cut was slightly to the right of my kneecap, and it was indeed deep enough to hit the bone. I winced. The scar was already mostly formed over it, but it was still very stiff and sore; not for the first time, I was grateful for my ability to heal quickly. One of the perks of having the job, I suppose. Still, Jack looked at me with concern.

"I'll live," I told him. "Just open the chest and get that heart. Leave the key and chest behind."

Jack nodded and stuck the key in the heart-shaped lock. He turned it to the right and the heart turned into a crab. Metal bars also popped out, that had been securely holding the lid in place for who knows how long. Jack opened the lid and he and I looked inside.

_Lub dub__…__ lub dub__…_

Settled in the left hand corner of the small chest was a pulsing, beating heart. Tiny barnacles dotted the flesh. I gave a suitable "Ew" as Jack picked it up and looked at it closer.

Just then, Elizabeth, Pintel, Ragetti and the pirates they were fighting against with their shared swords came crashing through the forest. Jack tucked Davy Jones' heart into his shirt, (earning a disgusted look from me, but how else was he going to hide it and carry it?) and slammed the lid shut on the chest. It locked again automatically. He and I made a break towards the shore where we had left the longboat.

Behind us, Elizabeth was showing an impressive amount of skill fending off the pirates. Pintel and Ragetti grabbed the chest and ran with it, thinking the heart was still inside.

I was almost out of breath by the time Jack and I reached the boat. The tide had started to come in so Jack had to run through ankle-deep water and soft sand.

"Put the heart where Jones can't get to it," I advised Jack.

"Jar of dirt!" he agreed, finding the item in the bottom of the boat. He opened the lid and tipped half of the sand and dirt out onto one of the seats of the boat. Then he plopped the heart into the jar and put as much dirt back in the cover it up as he could.

"Come on, hurry!" I urged him, looking over my shoulder anxiously. There was a cursed crew member coming up on us fast. "There's a guy coming!"

Jack just closed the lid on the jar again as the attacker swung his sword at him. I cried out and ducked away as Jack dropped the jar into the boat. He grabbed an oar to defend himself with and fought his grotesque opponent.

In the distance, I saw Elizabeth, Pintel and Ragetti running down the beach towards us, still fighting off the rest of Davy Jones' crew. The giant wheel, with Will and Norrington still handing on for dear life inside, came crashing onto the beach. It crushed some of the cursed crew into the sand as it passed Elizabeth. Everyone paused for a moment to watch it. The wheel finally ran out of momentum and rolled to a stop, falling to its side in the shallows. A very dizzy Will and Norrington climbed out, too disoriented to run straight, let alone fight. Will tried to stagger off to help Elizabeth, falling flat on his face in the water several times before succeeding. Norrington saw Jack fighting by the adrift longboat and managed to make his way towards it.

I bit my lip and looked anxiously at Jack; he was still caught up in his fight and couldn't afford to be distracted. If I alerted him to Norrington, who was now finding the Letters of Marque from Jack's coat and figuring out what Jack had done with the jar of dirt and Davy Jones' heart, he may well be killed by his attacker. I decided not to tell him, and probably saved his life in doing so at the cost of Norrington getting the heart and escaping, knowing that it was to later give it to Lord Cutler Beckett.

As soon as Norrington ran away from the longboat, Pintel and Ragetti reached it. They still had the chest with the key inside the lock. They plonked it in the boat and began to push it out to deeper water. They were stopped by Will Turner, who braced himself against the front of the boat and pointed his sword at them. Pintel and Ragetti reached for their swords, only to remember that Elizabeth had them. They shrugged at Will and grabbed the other oar and a fishing net, brandishing them threateningly.

"Come on, Turner!" Pintel challenged.

Will saw the chest in the boat and turned his attention to it just as Davy Jones' crew closed in, distracting Pintel and Ragetti. Jack hit his opponent in the head and noticed Will holding the chest, a suspicious look upon his face. He hit his attacker again with the oar and swung at Will. Jack caught him off-guard, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. I was briefly reminded of a time when Will had done the same thing to Jack, and I smiled at the justice.

Elizabeth rushed to Will's side. "Leave him lie!" Jack told her. "Unless you plan on using him to hit something with."

Norrington appeared at Elizabeth's side. Pintel and Ragetti edged back towards us, too. We were surrounded by Jones' snarling crew. We couldn't fight them any longer.

"We're not getting out of this," Elizabeth realized.

"Not with the chest," Norrington said. "Into the boat." He grabbed the chest and Elizabeth looked at him with alarm.

"You're mad!"

"Don't wait for me," he told her, taking off back towards the mainland.

Pintel threw his net over an attacker and Ragetti hit him with his oar, but they knew as well that the fight was over. The crew began to follow Norrington through the shallows and away from us.

"Er… I say we respect his final wishes!" Jack declared, his oar still raised.

"Aye!" Pintel agreed.

Jack, Elizabeth, Pintel and Ragetti all climbed into the boat and began to head back as quickly as they can towards the _Black Pearl_. Jack didn't care about the chest because he thought the heart was still in his jar of dirt, which he made sure was safe. I couldn't tell him what really happened; not yet, as it would make him follow after Norrington, which could get him killed. Elizabeth cradled Will's head, trying to make sure he was okay. Pintel and Ragetti once again rowed. They moved considerably faster this time than they had on the trip over.

With a sigh and a groan, I wearily settled down in the longboat beside Jack, careful not to hurt my knee. He looked at me with a frown, his eyes drifting over my wounded joint. I gave a small chuckle.

"Funny how the only person other than Will to be hurt in all of that fighting was me, eh?"

Jack smiled slightly, but it didn't hold much humour. He shrugged, just seeming relieved to be out of there.

I sighed again and closed my eyes. I felt exhausted, and my knee still stiff and sore. However, I was almost more pained to remember that our fight wasn't over yet. There were still more dangers to come, and these were going to be the biggest ones yet.


	16. Attack of the Flying Dutchman

The trip back to the _Black Pearl _was downright uneventful, ignoring the fact that my knee continued to throb slightly in pain and I felt like I was as taut as a violin string. It was all I could to hide my tension from Jack. So far as he was concerned, things were going well. He was right, they were going well, but I knew that big trouble was coming.

Will's body was lifted onto the deck of the _Pearl _where he soon regained consciousness under Elizabeth's watchful and caring eye. It was very similar to the first time they met. I didn't bother paying much attention to them. The crew scrambled to bring the longboat in and sail the ship away from the island. I followed Jack across the deck, his jar of dirt held tightly in his hands. Gibbs rushed up.

"Where's the commodore?" he asked.

"Fell behind," Jack answered simply, referring to the Pirate's Code. I recalled the rule, or guideline, was 'any man who falls behind is left behind.'

Gibbs paused, as if in a moment of sadness. "My prayers be with him," he muttered softly. Then he perked up, never having been very fond of Norrington anyway. "Best not wallow in our grief!"

Gibbs followed Jack and I up the steps to the helm, where Cotton was at the wheel. "The bright side is you're back, and made it off free and clear," Gibbs said to Jack.

Jack's first mate spoke too soon. Behind us, there was an explosion of water as the monstrous hull of the _Flying Dutchman _bust fourth from beneath the surface of the sea and instantly, the _Pearl's _crew reacted with great fear. Even I jumped slightly, my eyes wide. The great grey ship settled alongside the _Pearl_, still draining water off her deck. Davy Jones scowled at us from across the gap between the two ships. His crew growled and snarled, ready for a fight. Gibbs crossed himself. "Lord on high, deliver us," he prayed nervously.

I gulped and looked to Jack. He showed only a slight trace of fear before putting on an air of absolute confidence. He pushed Gibbs aside with a smile. "I'll handle this, mate." He walked up to where he knew Davy Jones would be able to see him and raised the jar of dirt in the air above his head with both hands. "Oi, fishface!" Jack hollered. He started to walk sideways, keeping his eyes on Davy Jones. "Lose something? Eh? _Scungilli!_"

Jack's moment was interrupted as he took a step too far to his right and tumbled head over heels down the stairs. I put my hand over my mouth to hide my nervous laughter and drifted down to his side to make sure he was okay. All of his crew winced and a soft chorus of "ooh's" filled the air.

Not even that would burst Jack Sparrow's bubble at the moment. He raised the jar into the air so it showed above the railing to show that it was unbroken a mere instant later. "Got it!" he shouted. Jack got to his feet. "Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git?" he taunted Davy Jones. He motioned to the jar as he continued to strut across his deck. "Look what _I've_ got! I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt!" Jack sang in a mocking tone. Will and Elizabeth shared a look, agreeing that Jack was more than slightly off his nut. I snickered quietly. "And guess what's inside it!" Jack once again gloated, raising the jar over his head in triumph.

Jones turned back to his crew. "_Enough_," he growled. A moment later, the cannon ports opened up on the side of the _Flying Dutchman _facing us. A chill went down my spine as the moment of humour evaporated. Jack's face fell. "Hard to starboard," he said simply; a command that sounded more like a mildly surprised comment.

Elizabeth put sufficient urgency into repeating the command. "Hard to starboard!" she screamed as the crew leapt into action.

"Brace up the foreyard!" Will shouted.

At the helm, Gibbs spun the wheel as hard and as fast as he could, turning the _Black Pearl _away. It was, in fact, a poor move strategically, because the _Dutchman's _cannons would be able to do more damage to the ship if they hit her lengthways from stern to stem. It was too late for me to argue this point with Jack, though. He knew that the _Black Pearl _was fast, and he hoped she could outrun the _Dutchman_.

Davy Jones ordered his crew to give chase and send the _Pearl_ to the depths. I couldn't help but give a small whimper of fear when I heard the _Dutchman's_ cannon fire. Just as I feared, the cannonballs ripped through the back of the _Pearl_, tearing huge holes in the walls of Jack's cabin.

"She's on us! She's on us!" I heard Pintel cry. That meant that the _Dutchman_ was close on our tail, and I knew that Jones was soon going to deploy his triple guns. The roar of cannon fire thundered in the air. One cannonball smashed one of the lanterns on the helm, narrowly missing Gibbs. Together, Jack and I ran up the stairs to the quarterdeck. Still clutching the jar of dirt, Jack took the wheel from Gibbs and gave it a swift turn. Under his guidance, the _Black Pearl _gave a heave to the side and dodged more cannonballs. The crew strained to make sure every stitch of canvas caught the wind. I looked up anxiously at the black sails. They were all as tight as a drum skin. I saw Pintel kiss and pat the railing of the ship, urging her onwards. I knew that the _Pearl_ had a reputation as the fastest ship in the Caribbean, and she didn't disappoint. We were soon out of reach of the _Dutchman's_ cannons.

Gibbs and Elizabeth looked back at the perusing ship. "She's falling behind!" Elizabeth shouted.

"Aye," Gibbs agreed with no small amount of relief. "We've got her!"

Will joined them. "We're the faster?"

Gibbs gave a nod, his attention still on the_ Dutchman_. "Against the wind, the _Dutchman_ beats us. _That's_ how she takes her prey." He glanced back at Will. "But _with_ the wind…"

"We rob her advantage," Will concluded.

"Aye," Gibbs confirmed. He and Elizabeth moved away from the edge, but I noticed Will still staring at the _Dutchman_. I bit my lip, knowing what he was thinking. A plan was beginning to form about how he could possibly save his father from Davy Jones.

Marty, hanging in the rigging, pointed at the _Flying Dutchman. _"They're giving up!" he shouted gleefully. The crew broke into a cheer, but I just worried at my lip harder. Jones had more than one way of taking a ship down, after all, and I knew he wasn't beyond using more violent matters. Jack smiled from his place on the quarterdeck, the jar of dirt still cradled in his arms. Will came up to him. "My father is on that ship," he reminded Jack. "If we can outrun her, we can take her. We should turn and fight."

I let out a small sigh. Jack turned to Will. "Why fight when you can negotiate?" He placed the jar of dirt on the railing. "All one needs is the proper leverage." Jack tapped his fingers lightly on the lid of the jar, looking smug.

Suddenly, the ship gave a mighty lurch and halted as if she had abruptly come to the end of her leash. Everyone stumbled, including me. I winced as pain once again shot through my wounded knee. Jack watched in horror as his precious jar of dirt fell to the deck below, smashing on the wood. Jack rushed down and started to dig through the sand. I winced, hoping he wouldn't cut himself on a piece of glass. "Careful, Jack. Don't cut yourself," I warned him.

Jack paid me no heed as he searched desperately for the heart of Davy Jones in the sand and dirt. "Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?"

I drifted down to his side, shaking my head slowly. "It's gone. I'm sorry." The look he gave me as I said this was almost as painful as what was going through my knee at the moment; he knew the rules. He knew I had knowledge of events yet to come, and those that had already passed… it didn't take long for him to figure out I'd known the heart was gone for a while, now.

Meanwhile, the crew were trying to figure out why we had just stopped. "We must have hit a reef," someone called. Elizabeth went to the side and peered down at the seething blue water.

Will's insides went as cold, as mine already were. We both knew what the real cause was. "No, it's not a reef!" Will called. He grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her towards the middle of the ship. "Get away from the rail!" The urgency in his voice and the rough way he handled her alarmed the young woman. The rest of the crew could also tell something was seriously wrong.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked him, her voice filled with dread.

"The Kraken," he answered. He already sounded hopeless, as though he knew the battle was already lost. He'd seen what the Kraken could do, already.

At the word, Jack looked up in horror. Will began to shout orders, putting his prior experience of Kraken attack to good use as he told the crew how to defend the ship. Jack wasn't listening to him. Instead, I watched with a frown as he hastily made his way towards a longboat.


	17. Talking Sense

AN/ The main bit of this chapter - where the Spirit is trying to convince Jack to turn his longboat around and go back to the _Black Pearl _- is the very first thing I ever wrote for this fic. Right after I saw PotC 2 for the first time, I went home and wrote my first draft of it. Since then, it's been poked and prodded and added to and taken away from, and morphed into the final version you see before you. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

I didn't say a single word as Jack silently lowered the longboat down the port side of the _Black Pearl _and into the water. The Kraken was more than enough distraction for him to slip away from the chaos going on upon the deck of his ship. No one would notice he was gone for quite some time, and even when they did there was no way they could chase after him. It was a good escape plan, albeit extremely cowardly. 

Jack climbed down into the little boat. I started down after him, but hesitated, hovering beside the ship. The _Pearl_ groaned, as if she didn't want her captain to leave or knew what was about to happen to her. Jack put a finger to his lips as if to hush his ship and looked up to me, wondering if I was coming. He waved at me frantically, telling me to hurry up; something that struck me as slightly flattering, in a strange sort of way, since he wasn't trying to save anyone else. Then again, it seemed likely that he wanted me along mainly to guide him through what was to come next.

I refused to move quickly as I drifted down and quietly settled in the boat, wincing slightly as my knee gave a complaint. I didn't look at my assignment. I kept my eyes on the bottom of the boat, even as Jack began to row away. I had to remember…even if I didn't agree with this, Jack was my assignment; it was my _job_ to stick by his side.

Jack didn't have to row for very long before we found ourselves already quite some distance away from the _Pearl._ I knew the strong current was to blame for that. The uncomfortable silence finally prompted Jack to speak up.

"You're being awfully quiet," he said. "Would have thought you'd have something to say to me about now."

I raised my eyes to look into his. I had no usual smile to give him. My cold fear of the Kraken had morphed into a slow, hot anger. "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Jack muttered. "How about 'Oi, I'm sure glad we got away from there with our lives!', or somethin'?"

My blank face didn't change. Behind us came the sound of the _Pearl's_ cannons as they fired at the Kraken's tentacles. I remembered how Jack could recognise the _Black Pearl _just by the sound of those very cannons.

Jack visibly flinched at the sound. "Or how about 'I respect your decision and I'll stick with you no matter what'?" he said hopefully.

"You're half right there," I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could. "I am going to stick with you, but I don't respect this particular decision of yours."

Jack frowned. Something in me snapped and I pointed angrily back at the _Pearl. _The ship was in a full-fledged attack by the Kraken. It was a horrible sight. I let some of my fury show in my voice. "Do you remember what we went through to get that ship back from Barbossa? Do I need I remind you what _you_ once said about that ship? 'It's _not_ just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship _needs_. But what that ship is, what the _Black Pearl really_ is, is _freedom_.'" I dropped my arm with a sigh and shook my head. I could tell my quoting his own words back at him had some effect on Jack.

"I can't believe you would give that up," I said, a small sob in my voice. "That ship is your _life_. And those _people! _You - "

Jack managed to interrupt my rant. "Calypso, it's true that that ship has always represented freedom to me…but not any more. Freedom means that I can escape, go where I please and do what I please, but ever since Jones sicked that beastie on me I've been _stripped_ of that freedom. When a man can't be safe on 'is own ship, then there's no point sticking around on board any longer. Besides," he glared at me, "you _knew_ that the heart wasn't in that jar anymore. Why didn't you _tell_ me?" he asked, his rather deep voice filled with hurt and venom.

I glared back at him. Jack had made an excellent and truthful point, but I was not going to lose this argument. "I _wanted_ to tell you, Jack, if only to save you the embarrassment, but I _couldn't_ tell you. I wasn't allowed to, you _know_ that," I snapped. "Even still, it doesn't matter now. You call yourself a captain, but you're sure as hell not acting like one now. A captain is a _leader_, and what the hell kind of leader leaves his crew behind to be _eaten_ by a bloody sea monster!?"

Jack looked like he was about to speak again, but I didn't give him the chance to. "And even _more_ than that - your _friends _are there. Those people once risked their lives to come back and save you. Regardless of how they feel about you now, Will and Elizabeth were going to be hung because when you were about to be executed, they stepped up and said 'No! Jack Sparrow is a good man! You should _not_ hang him.' You owe them your life just as much as you owe me."

I sighed again. Jack could no longer meet my gaze. He was doing some serious thinking. He was still rowing, though his stroke was slowing. I looked at his compass.

"I once thought that thing only pointed to _Isla de Meurta_." I said softly. "But I was wrong. It lead to what you really wanted, a way to get the _Pearl _back. Let's face it, Jack, you love that ship and you care about your friends." I swallowed hard. "To be honest, I don't know what that compass would point to if you opened it now, but I don't care. You know what the right thing to do is."

There was a pause that lasted for a second, but felt like a lifetime. A thought crossed my mind. "Was Elizabeth right when she said you were curious about what it felt like to do the right thing? Something courageous, to save the day, to be a hero? Because I will tell you _right now _- and I mean this with every fibre of my being," I slowed my words, to make each one count. "If you don't go back, then they're _all_ going to die."

Jack stopped rowing. He looked at the compass, then at the _Pearl_. We could hear screams and shouts coming from the crew of the doomed ship. He looked over his shoulder at the island in the distance. We both knew that island meant temporary safety, but taking that option meant that Captain Jack Sparrow was a coward. I knew he could live with a lot of guilt in his life, but could he really live with _this _guilt?

Another thought came to me. If this didn't work, nothing would. "Barbossa probably wouldn't have abandoned the _Pearl,_" I said in an offhanded manner.

Jack looked at me with a certain type of venom. "I'm _not_ Barbossa," he growled.

I matched his angry gaze. "No, you're not. You and him _are_ very similar, but you're a _better man _than him."

Our eyes remained locked for a few more seconds. Both our wills were strong, and neither one of us wanted to back down. Then, abruptly, Jack suddenly broke his gaze away and opened the compass. He saw where its needle pointed and looked back at me. His stare shifted over my shoulder to the _Black Pearl _and the monster that was about to swallow her. Then his eyes met mine once more.

"You do what you have to do," I said. "And I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth, to Hell and back if need be."

"Have you ever been to Hell, Calypso?" Jack asked.

A ghost of a smile crossed my face. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have."

"Good. You can show me around." Jack grunted as he began to turn the longboat.

I grinned in victory, and used my powers to ensure the boat made a speedy return to the ship, despite the current pushing us in the other direction. My grin morphed into a grim smile. What we were doing was suicide, but I have never felt prouder, or more terrified, about the choice that was made to do it.


	18. Kraken

A/N: This is my final chapter of this fic. Sad, I know, but never fear! There will be another sequel. I don't know yet when 'Sparrow Spirit 3' will be up. At the earliest, it will be late 2007, early 2008. I'll do my special thanks to everyone now.

First, I have to thank those who will never know how much they've helped me. Johnny Depp, Gore Verbinski, Ted & Terry, and the rest of the PotC crew. I also must thank Belinda, Davide, Lady Shadiait and every one else who reviewed my fic for their support and encouragement. Extra special thanks to Jinxeh, who betaed this whole fic and was there for me at every turn. This fic's for you, Jinxeh!

Thanks once again everyone! I'll see you at the next fic.

* * *

As we rowed back to the _Pearl_, I explained Will's plan to use a cargo net full of the last remaining barrels of gun powder and rum as bait for the Kraken. Then, once the beast had it in its tentacles, or even better, if it had swallowed it, Elizabeth was to shoot the barrels, causing them to explode.

Jack nodded grimly. "Trust _them_ to come up with a plan to use rum like that," he muttered.

I watched the action on the _Pearl._ Those aboard were unaware of Jack's return to the ship. Will was up on the swinging cargo net, but he had lost his sword and his boot had become stuck, leaving him vulnerable to the Kraken's waving tentacles. He drew his knife and began to saw at the thick ropes of the netting in a desperate attempt to free himself, but it was of no use. Men were being plucked off the deck, screaming, only to be hurled violently into the sea. Elizabeth was struggling to get a clear shot at the barrels. Will was still tangled in the net, and she was waiting for him to get clear despite his shouts at her to shoot.

Suddenly, series of smaller tentacles snaked their way through the ruins of Jack's cabin behind Elizabeth and the tip of one of them wrapped around her ankle. She dropped the gun and screamed as she was pulled backwards, facing almost certain doom. Luckily, she was saved by a well-aimed axe chop from none other than Ragetti, who severed the tip off the tentacle, releasing her from the creature's grip. As grateful as she probably was, Elizabeth didn't have time to thank her unexpected savior; she immediately ran back to the rifle.

The rifle had been picked up by another crew member, but the Kraken tossed him through the air and into the sea before he had a chance to shoot. By now, Jack and I had climbed back on board. We saw the rifle land on the quarterdeck by the staircase that led up to the helm. Elizabeth started up the stairs towards it, but a violent shudder from the ship caused her to stumble. She fell across the steps, but managed to put her hand on the gun.

However, Captain Jack had gotten to it first, stepping on the rifle with his boot. Elizabeth tried to pry his foot off before looking up and realising who it was. The bright sun illuminated Jack from behind, giving him an extremely grand heroic look from Elizabeth's angle. I couldn't help but grin, feeling proud for my assignment. Elizabeth smiled in relief and Jack bent down to pick up the gun.

I stood beside Jack and Elizabeth clutched his legs as he raised the rifle to point at the swinging cargo net. Will was still trying to cut himself free. I didn't need to remind Jack to wait until Will was clear of the net. At last, after a few seconds that stretched like an eternity, Will fell to the deck. Jack took careful aim as the tentacles wrapped around the cargo net. Some of the barrels began to fall through the air. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion. I covered my ears as Jack fired…

… and hit the barrels. This caused the predicted result: a giant explosion. The tentacles were shredded, and bits of crispy Kraken flesh flew in every direction. The shock of the explosion tossed me to the deck, where I landed very hard on my bad knee. I cried out in intense pain as I clutched my knee; it felt as though I had injured it further, though I knew that now wasn't the time to worry about it. There was an almost eerie quiet before the sea monster let out an unearthly moan of pain, as if to echo my own. I let out a string of venomous curses under my breath as Jack looked down at me with concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Elizabeth thought the question was directed at her. "I'm fine," she replied, though her voice was rather shaky. The Kraken's tentacles once again disappeared under the waves as the monster limped - or swam - away to recover.

Some tears spilled down my cheeks. "I'm not really okay. I hurt my knee again," I managed to say. I took a few deep breaths to try to calm myself. My heart was racing and I was shaking a bit. I couldn't really just think about myself, though. I still had a job to do. "Don't worry about me," I told Jack. "Get the survivors out of here. We're still not safe."

The surviving crew members were crawling out of the wreckage. Gibbs, Cotton and his parrot, Pintel, Ragetti, Marty and Will, along with Elizabeth and Jack were the only ones left. Marty and Gibbs went to the railing and peered cautiously at the water, searching for any signs of the Kraken.

"Did we kill it?" Marty asked, unable to hide the hope from his voice.

"No. We just made it angry," Gibbs replied fearfully. He moved away from the railing. "We're not out of this yet. Captain, orders!" he called to Jack.

Jack gave me another concerned look and went down the stairs to the main deck, the rifle still in his hand. He passed the gun to Gibbs. "Abandon ship. Into the longboat." There was nothing in his voice to suggest he had a problem with this plan, though he was abandoning the ship that he'd worked so hard to attain…he was cool and collected, though when he glanced over his shoulder at me once more, there was an almost unspeakable sadness written in those dark brown eyes. I bowed my head, unable to meet those eyes, and tried to figure out how badly my knee was injured.

The others scrambled to the side of the ship where Jack had tied the boat he'd used to try and make his escape. Miraculously, it had somehow remained undamaged. Gibbs looked horrified that Jack Sparrow had just told them to abandon the _Black Pearl_. He ran after him.

"Jack... the _Pearl_!" he said, as though he really had to remind his captain that this ship was his pride and joy. He didn't know the realization Jack had already come to; that the _Black Pearl_ was no longer safe. It no longer meant Jack's freedom, and so it had lost much of its special meaning.

I struggled to rise into the air, still clutching my injured left knee. It was very difficult and painful, but I pushed myself because I knew Jack was still going to need me - and soon. _This is about him, not me,' _I thought._ 'Just keep your mind on Jack; he needs you more right now.'_

"She's only a ship, mate," Jack told Gibbs without looking at him. I knew those words where the hardest ones Jack Sparrow has ever had to say. To call the _Black Pearl _'just a ship' was almost blasphemy, but unfortunately, that was just what she had become.

"He's right. We have to head for land," Elizabeth agreed. Jack gave her a curious look. It was odd to that she should agree with him.

"It's a lot of open water," Pintel pointed out, worried that they wouldn't be able to make it due to the Kraken.

"It's a lot of water," Ragetti echoed.

"We have to try," Will said, stubborn and optimistic as always. "We can get away as it takes down the _Pearl_."

Gibbs nodded, his own determination to survive setting in. "Abandon ship. Abandon ship or abandon hope."

Gibbs and Will grabbed some of the guns that were still on deck to take with them. The rest of the crew started to climb down to the row boat.

I finally managed to float up into the air, though my recovery was still ongoing. I only went high enough to clear the railing and float downwards. I landed as carefully as I could on the main deck, trying to avoid the carnage the Kraken left behind around me. I settled gently atop a cannon and watched as Jack looked sadly around what was left of the _Black Pearl_, the ship he had sold his soul to get. I wondered if he really was considering going down with his ship, but then I decided that that wasn't something Jack Sparrow would do willingly if he had another option. Unfortunately, that option was going to be taken away from him. Elizabeth was also watching Jack. I gave her a frown, knowing what was going to happen next, but unable to stop it.

Elizabeth approached my assignment. "Thank you, Jack."

He turned to face her. "We're not free yet, love."

"You came back." She looked him in the eyes and smiled. She took a few steps closer to him. "I always knew you were a good man."

Jack looked unusually solumn as he gazed into her eyes. Elizabeth hesitated, standing very close to him. Then... she slowly kissed him on the lips.

I sighed, closing my eyes and looking away. I knew Will was going to spot Elizabeth and Jack kissing, and the deep hurt and sense of betrayal it would then cause him. Gibbs blocked Will's view as he tried to climb down, shouting orders to the crew.

"Prepare to cast off. There no time to lose. Come on, Will. Step to!"

I heard Jack's slight grunt as Elizabeth pushed him against the main mast. Then there was the clink of chains. I looked back over at Elizabeth and Jack as she gave him a steely look. Jack smiled grimly, realizing what she had done. I saw his wrist had been shackled to the mast and I sighed angrily. This was the one of the worst parts of my job.

I found myself thinking about when Jack and Elizabeth first met. He had saved her life, only to use her to help himself escape after he had been shackled. It seemed amazing to me, how the world turned in such ways. I knew why Elizabeth had done what she did. This act served to slake her own, confusion-stimulated lust for Jack, save the man she really loved, and drown her own guilt for possibly liking Jack in the first place. Little did she know how the guilt for condemning Jack to death would eat at her soul.

"It's after you, not the ship," Elizabeth said to Jack, their faces still very close together. She shook her head. "It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see?" She looked as if she might kiss him again for a moment, but then she pulled back, forcing herself to sound unfeeling. "I'm not sorry."

Jack studied her with a grin. Then he gave her a label she would never be able to shake off. It would stay with her forever. "Pirate."

Elizabeth swallowed hard, then turned away and went down to join the others in the long boat, leaving myself and my assignment on the deck of the doomed ship. Jack, with a slight smile still on his face, examined his shackled left wrist. Then he looked to me.

"Now what?" he asked me quietly.

I sighed again and winced, still in pain. "You've got to get yourself out of there somehow. I can't help you right now…I'm not allowed. That, and…my knee. Sorry."

"You knew she was going to do that," Jack said. Again, it wasn't a question.

"Yeah," I confessed, somehow unable to meet his gaze.

Jack seemed to be over the fact that I knew these things were going to happen, but I couldn't stop them. "Are they coming back for me?"

I shook my head. "No. They're getting out of here. You've got to hurry, Jack. You don't have much time to escape."

Just then, we heard Elizabeth give a stern "go!" to the crew in the boat and the sound of them shoving off.

"Bugger," Jack muttered. He started to tug at the shackles, growing more and more frantic with each second that passed. He braced himself against the mast and tugged with all his strength, but it wasn't working. "Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, _bugger_!"

I managed to stand up, using the ship's railing to help me, but I couldn't put any weight on my leg just yet. The_ Pearl _gave an ominous shudder and tilted slightly to starboard, away from me. Jack's eyes widened in alarm. He looked around and spotted a lantern lying amongst the wreckage.

"If you can reach it, use the oil to get yourself out," I recommended. It was just about all I could do. I grimaced in mild agony as I tested my left leg. My knee throbbed and a shot of pain went through my leg. "I've just got to recover a bit here before I can help you fight the Kraken..."

Jack drew his sword and stretched over to try to use the tip to hook on the ring of the lantern. I willed myself to recover faster. Time was quickly running out. I could sense it, like sand falling through an hourglass.

Jack finally managed to hook the lantern on his sword and smash it against the mast. He let the oil dribble onto the shackle, lubricating his wrist. Then he pulled on it some more. Slowly, his hand began to slip out. "Come on!" he urged it.

"Come on, come on!" I pleaded with him. I bit my lip, limping heavily closer to him.

Jack's hand was almost through. "Just got it. Come on," he grunted. Then, with one last mighty tug, his hand slipped free of the shackle. The two of us smiled in triumph.

Suddenly my eyes went wide. My hands flew to my mouth to stop a scream from escaping. Jack saw my expression and went pale. He turned around and saw what I saw - the mouth of the Kraken rising over the railing of the _Pearl._ There was just the smallest of pauses… and then it roared at Jack, blasting him with slime and the foul stench of its breath. I took after Jack and just closed my eyes. The two of us let ourselves be covered in the disgusting stuff.

All the while I was focusing my power. I felt it building in my arms, legs and chest. It lifted me into the air a few feet and caused me to temporarily forget the pain in my knee. It felt like a thundercloud was growing inside of me, just waiting to spit forth all the legendary lightning of Zeus. I put all my anger into that energy, and boy, was I _mad_.

I was mad at what had been done to Jack in the past and at what was happening to him now. I was angry at Barbossa for mutinying him all those years ago and so robbing Jack of his time with the _Black Pearl_. I was angry with Elizabeth and the others for leaving Jack, their friend and captain, here to die. It didn't matter right then that they would later volunteer to risk their lives to save him again. I was angry with Davy Jones, for holding Jack to that bloody promise he made thirteen years ago and for causing the deaths and torture of so many people. I was angry at Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company for their slaughter of pirates. It didn't matter to me right then not most pirates were not more or less good men like Jack. I was mad at Norrington for stealing Davy Jones' heart for himself - a truly selfish thing to do. He had turned pirate, after all. I was mad at myself for getting injured so often. It was limiting my ability to help my assignments, and that wasn't good for anyone. I was also mad at the world and the powers that be for not allowing me to actively _do_ anything about all these problems. It just wasn't _fair_.

The Kraken's roar quieted. I opened my eyes. I could feel them shining with an incredible power. I had never felt this way before. I felt dangerous. It was _fantastic_, though almost unbearably frightening.

Jack pulled some of the sea monster's slime off his face. "Not that bad," he remarked of the fabled bad breath. I made a face. It was true that it was horrible, but I suppose there were worse smells.

Jack smiled in happy surprise as he spotted his old tricorn hat sitting on the deck. The Kraken had spat it out. Jack picked it up and swung it backwards to shake off as much slime as he could. He fit it on his head, feeling complete.

"You may not have been able to beat the devil, Jack, but he hasn't really won, either," I said. "Our story isn't over yet. Now, let's go down fighting, eh?"

I thought of Davy Jones discovering that his heart was still missing and Norrington's bargain with Cutler Beckett. I thought of the rest of Jack's crew making their way to Tia Delma's. I thought of her consoling them, Gibbs remarking how the world seemed a little less bright without Jack Sparrow in it and preposing a toast to him. I thought of Tia asking them that if they would be "willing to sail to the ends of the earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and him precious _Pearl_." I thought of them all agreeing to go, each for their own reasons. I thought of Barbossa's presence being revealed to them. The story had to continue, and so it would. I had to remind myself that this wasn't really the end, just the conclusion to one chapter of the tale.

Jack looked at me and nodded, with a determined smile. I smiled back.

"Let's do it," I said in a firm voice.

Jack grinned, flashing his gold teeth at the monster as he drew his cutlass. "Hello, beastie."

We roared and attacked the Kraken together just as it began to crush and devour the _Black Pearl._

I heard Captain Jack Sparrow's yell, the snap of breaking wood, the splash of the sea and the rumble of the Kraken. I could see nothing but rows and rows of sharp, pointed teeth. I screamed and surged forward with all my strength and power.

Then I knew nothing but silence and darkness.


End file.
